A regional state, or a regionalised unitary state, is a term used to denote a type of state that is formally unitary but where a high degree of political power has been highly decentralised to regional governments. This contrasts with a state organized on principles of federalism (either a federal republic such as the United States, Brazil, or India or a federal monarchy such as Belgium or Malaysia) where the powers of the regions are enshrined in constitutional law. In many cases, the regions are based on long standing cultural or regional divisions.
Europe
Many regional states exist in Europe because many European states are very old, and their constitutional structures evolved from absolute monarchy and hold that power emanates from the central government. This means that any regional autonomy is theoretically only existent at the sufferance of the central government. However, in practice, there would be enormous popular and political resistance if the central government tried to revoke the autonomy of a region. This can be seen in the opposition to the Spanish government's application of direct rule in Catalonia during and immediately after the Catalan crisis. Catalonia's autonomy has since been restored.
One example of a regional state is Spain which is divided into autonomous communities which are autonomous government bodies that exercise a large degree of lawmaking and in some cases tax-setting authority but are officially creations of the central government. They are designed to ensure limited autonomy for the nationalities and regions of Spain such as the Catalans and the Galicians, among others. Many political parties in Spain, especially those expressing one of the various regional nationalisms, have called for the creation of a full federal system in the country, as opposed to the current system, which is often described as "federalism in all but name" or "federation without federalism".
Other countries such as Serbia, Portugal or Finland have devolved power to certain regions but are not regionalized because the regional system does not expand across the whole nation.
Communist-ruled Mainland China might be considered a regional state since significant levels of power are exercised by the provinces and autonomous regions as well as the special administrative regions. Provinces exercise such a degree of independent authority that some analysts claim that there exists a de facto federation in China because of striking differences in the nature of state policy between provinces, as exemplified by the competing Chongqing model and Guangdong model.
Indonesia
Indonesia is a regionalised unitary state. It was once a federal country for a brief period following its independence under the name United States of Indonesia, but that system was replaced by a unitary one in 1950. However, the country is divided into provinces, which exercise significant authority over local issues because of the large size of the country. Additionally, some regions such as Western New Guinea and Aceh have more autonomy because of their unique and often fractious relationship with the national government. Yogyakarta Sultanate is also a region of Indonesia that has a special relationship with the central government since it is a monarchy in which the Sultan of Yogyakarta serves in a position similar to that of a governor.
Philippines
The Philippines is divided into provinces and the Bangsamoro autonomous region. The Provinces exercise significant degree of authority in local matters. Many people in the Philippines propose the creation of a federation.
Republic of China (Taiwan)
The Republic of China, which has ruled Taiwan since 1945, can be considered as a regional state as there are a number of counties and cities that are self-governing according to the Local Government Act. There are also indigenous areas throughout the island that are concentrated in the mountainous interiors of Taiwan.
There are several regional states in Africa. They are common because all of the continent's countries except for Liberia and Ethiopia came into existence in the 20th or the 21st centuries and so were not constrained by old constitutional structures in setting up their governments.
South Africa
South Africa is a regional state divided into a number of provinces, all of which have their own elected provincial legislature and Premier and exercise significant degrees of authority. Some people and political parties, most notably the Inkatha Freedom Party, advocate the establishment of a federal system in which the provinces would be the federal units.
South Africa and Tanzania are the only true regional states in Africa, but some other states have similar aspects. Morocco is divided into Regions that exercise some power but have less regional authority than the regions of true regional states. Other unitary countries as Uganda or Ghana recognize some local traditional authorities.
