Question

who is in charge?
federalism is a system of government with one, strong, overarching governing authority as well as smaller political units, sometimes called states or provinces. in this system, power is shared by both the larger overarching and the smaller political units. often, these smaller political units came together to form a federal system to unite themselves as one country.
in a unitary system, there are no smaller political units, there is just one overarching government. power is not shared with anything else. in those places like egypt, france, and japan, where nationalist feelings are strong, and there are many forces like language and religion uniting people, a unitary state makes much sense.
many countries have a federalist style of government where power is geographically distributed among several subnational units. federations may also work best when nations have multi - ethnic or multinational countries. rather than break into multiple smaller states, a country can choose to give each of its ethnicities or nationalities some measure of political power. if they want to speak their language or teach their specific religion in the local schools, then the central government allows local people to make those decisions. the central government in a federal system focuses on things like national defense, managing interstate transportation, and regulating a common currency. the u.s. is a federalist system because there is the national, overarching seat of power in the capital washington, dc, but there are also smaller states that each have their own capital cities as well.
questions:

1. what is the difference between a federal and a unitary system of government?
2. why might a country want to divide itself into smaller political units?
3. why do you think the united states is a federal system as opposed to a unitary system?

Explanation:

1. The core difference lies in power structure and political units: federal systems have shared power between a central authority and smaller subnational units, while unitary systems concentrate all power in a single central government with no smaller autonomous political units.
2. A country may split into smaller political units to accommodate diverse ethnic, cultural, or linguistic groups by giving them local political control over issues like language and education, which helps prevent division and unites the country.
3. The U.S. is federal because it has a national central government based in Washington, D.C., alongside individual states that each have their own capital and retain control over local governance matters, with power shared between the two levels.

Answer:

1. A federal system shares power between a central governing authority and smaller subnational political units (states/provinces), while a unitary system has only one central government with no smaller autonomous political units, holding all governing power.
2. To accommodate multi-ethnic/multinational populations by granting local groups political control over cultural matters (like language or religious education), which helps maintain national unity instead of splitting into separate countries.
3. The U.S. has a national central government in Washington, D.C., and individual states that each have their own capital and local governing power, with authority shared geographically between the national and state levels, fitting the definition of a federal system.