Modern Classification of Government

The United Kingdom has no written constitution and one Parliament that can, in theory, do almost anything. India has a written constitution, thirty-plus states, and a Supreme Court that can strike down a law the whole of Parliament passed. Both are democracies, and both are governments — but they sit at completely different points on the one axis this topic is actually about: how much power the centre keeps for itself, and how much it hands to its regions.

In two minutes

The modern classification of government sorts states by the relationship between the centre and its regional units — unitary, where all power sits with the centre, federal, where power is constitutionally divided, and quasi-federal, a mixed system, like India's, that combines both in one constitution.

The rest of this chapter

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