What is the difference between central government and federal government

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Central Government vs. State Government
Comparison Chart
What is the Central Government?
What is the State Government?
Key Differences
Federal Versus State Government
Federal Government vs National Government

The main difference between Central Government and State Government is that the Central Government is defined as the political authority that governs an entire country or nation, whereas the State Government is defined as a unit of government that is specific for a state

Central Government vs. State Government

The central government is also known as the federal government or union government, and it is the government for the entire nation or country. On the other hand, the state government is specifically the government of states. The central government manages foreign relations, whereas the state government manages public health and safety. The central government has more power, and it has the authority to delegate this power or not; on the flip side, the state government is having the hierarchy of power systems from the state level to the province level.

The central government has the authority to control, and its responsibilities deal with national security and international diplomacy. The duties of state government are related to the progress, development, law, and order. The power and authority of the central government rely on centralization; on the other side, the countries with the state government are having decentralization of power. A central government regulates the trade between the states and with other countries, while the state government oversees the trade within the state borders.

Comparison Chart

Central Government	State Government
A political authority that governs an entire country or nation is a central government	A unit of government that is specific for a state is a state government
Kind of Government
The government for the entire country	The government of a specific state
Trade
Regulates the trade between the states and with other countries	Regulates the trade within the state borders
Manages
The foreign relations	Public health and safety
Power
Centralized	Decentralization
Responsibilities
Deals with national security and international diplomacy	Related with the progress, development, law, and order

What is the Central Government?

The central government is defined as the political authority that governs an entire country or nation. It is also known as the national or federal government. In the central government, the power is shared between the central government and state governments. The central government shares the revenue in the budget of every year with the state government or provinces.

The basic structure of the central government is divided into three branches, and the power is separated into these branches. The first one is the legislative branch. It is a two-house Congress that is composed of a Senate and the House of Representatives. This branch is responsible for makes federal laws, and these laws are applied to the entire nation. The second one is the executive branch, and its chief executive is the President. The President enforces the federal laws with the help of a cabinet, federal departments, and agencies. The third one is the judicial branch having the federal courts. It must interpret the laws by hearing arguments about them.

Roles of Central Government

Assesses and collect taxes
Print money and regulate its value, punish counterfeiters
Regulate interstate between states and foreign trade
Declare war, raise and maintain the armed forces
Manage foreign affairs

What is the State Government?

The state government is defined as a unit of government that is specific for a state. It makes laws for a state and has the duty to enforce them. It has certain reserved powers and responsibilities concerning its area. The modern nations like the United States and Australia, have the state governments. State government holds the responsibility to administer the local needs of a particular state or region. In the United States, there are 50 states, each with a state government.

State government takes responsibility in a state of things such as birth certificates, death certificates, driving license, vehicle registration, etc. A state government is also having a state constitution, which is a document that lays down the governmental structure. It tells the political processes and limitations on the use of power by a state. The structure of the state government is having three branches assigned with various tasks. These branches are the executive branch, legislative branch, and the judicial branch.

Roles of State Government

Regulates the trade within state borders
Establish regulations for local corporations
Administer to the needs of local governments
Regulates the educational system of a state
Make licensing rules for professionals of the state
Manage public health and safety

Key Differences

The central government is the government for the entire country, whereas the state government is the government of a specific state.
The central government is defined as the political authority that governs an entire country or nation; in contrast, the State government is defined as a unit of government that is specific for a state.
A central government regulates the trade between the states and with other countries; on the other hand, a state government oversees the trade within the state borders.
The central government manages foreign relations; conversely, the state government manages public health and safety.
The power and authority of the central government rely on centralization; on the flip side, the power and authority of state government countries are decentralized.
The central government has more power, and it has the authority to delegate this power or not; contrarily, the state government is having the hierarchy of power system from the state level to province level.
The central government has the authority to control, and its responsibilities deal with national security and international diplomacy; on the other side, the duties of state government are related to the progress, development, law, and order.

Conclusion

The central government and state governments are the two political authorities that are different from one another. The difference between these governments is based on their use of power, authority, duties, management, and the like.

Federal Versus State Government

The first type of government in America was based primarily on state government. Prior to the signing of the Constitution, America had been made up of thirteen colonies, which had been ruled by England. Following the Revolutionary War, these colonies, although they had formed a league of friendship under the Articles of Confederation, basically governed themselves. They feared a strong central government like the one they lived with under England's rule. However, it was soon discovered that this weak form of state government could not survive and so the Constitution was drafted. The Constitution:

defines and limits the power of the Federal Government
defines the relationship between the Federal Government and individual state governments
guarantees the rights of the citizens of the United States

This time, it was decided that a government system based on federalism would be established. In other words, power is shared between the Federal and state (local) governments. The opposite of this system of government is a centralized government, such as in France and Great Britain, where the Federal Government maintains all power.

Sharing power between the Federal Government and state governments allows for a nice balance between what the Federal and state governments can manage. For example, the Federal Government may set a uniform currency (money) system. Could you imagine having 50 different types of coins, each with a different value? You would need to take along a calculator to go shopping in another state. By setting up a national policy, the system is fair to everyone, and the states do not have to bear the heavy burden of regulating their currency (money).

There is a lot of confusion between the same words. There is a lot of misconception created among the group of people that the federal government and national government are quite similar as they both perform the same function. Well, let me make this clear that federal and national governments are unlike each other.

Federal Government vs National Government

The main difference between federal and national governments is that the federal government is a kind of government that a country can take. On the other hand, the national government is the top level of government in the country. The national government is a part of the federal government.

Federal is defined as something related to a government that joint a general government with the regional government in one political system. It is a form of government in which the state acknowledges the central government’s power but keeps certain state-level government powers.

We can define the National government as the government or political authority with the whole nation’s power. A national government maintains the national army of the country. It has the strength to control over state or maintain foreign policy and have the power to collect taxes from the people.

Parameter of Comparison	Federal Government	National Government
Meaning	It is defined as a system with some features of the central government and some state government features.	It is defined as government authority that has the power for the whole nation.
Division	In the federal government, works are split-up between the local and state government.	The national government gives orders to the local and state government.
Control	In the federal government, state and local governments can work freely.	The central or national government has full control of the nation.
Power	In the federal government, power is divided among the local and state governments.	The central government has the full power to change the law, collecting tax, declaring war, and many other powers.
Judiciary	The federal government cannot change the law of the country.	The national government can change the law or can declare any law invalid.

A federal government is defined as a government system that has the features of the central government and has some features of state governments or units. In the federal government, power is shared with the national government; both governments can do their work freely. In simple words, in a federal government, the national government is on the top level.

It is a system of split up the power between the local government and the central government, which is connected directly to the national government. The local government controls some areas of the country, and the federal government controls some.

It is a systematic body with a specific constitution in which area of the public life the national government control over and which area of public life the state government will take over.

The rules and regulation made by the federal system of the country set up the limit for the national government to several areas such as providing money to defense, collecting of taxes, regulating commerce, creating the currency of the country, building post offices and post roads, granting patents, creating of lower courts in the country, borrowing money on credit and declaring war.

The national government can also be called the central government of a country. Powerful and influential people who take part in the governance of a State such as the monarch of England, the prime minister, the president, or maybe the vice-president of a country form part of the national government. This important State personnel performs several functions in the capacity of the representative or head of the state. It also consists of a law-making body and the judiciary and other branches of a specific country’s government. This government concerns with the issues of jurisdiction of the whole country.

The national government’s law is very big and has departments and offices that are planned for public services, and the resources are vast enough to accommodate each citizen of that country. The national government’s laws cannot be repealed until the unless national law former called the law invalid and the law is carried out in the state or other forms of government.

The responsibility given to the national government, which is not provided to the state government or local government, is maintaining national securities, the right to sign binding treaties exercising international diplomacy. It has the power to make the law for the whole country, and all the lower-level governments have to follow it.

Both national and federal governments have the power to rule the country, but the national government is part of the federal government.
The federal government split up the power between the local government and the state government. On the other hand, the national government has all the power to control the country, and both state and local governments have to follow the guidelines.
The national government has the power to build the law for each citizen of the country. On the other hand, the federal government does not have such power.
The national government has high governance and the president, vice-president, prime minister, and other members who work together for the country. On the other hand, the federal government shares power with the national government, and the two work freely.
In the federal government, works are distributed by the local government. On the other hand, the national government has all the capacity to make a decision for the country.

As there is a lot of difference between federal and national governments, it is clearly understood that they are very much different from each other. The national government is also considering to be a part of the federal government.

As the main difference between federal and national governments has been pointed out, we can tell that they have different work features. The national government can change the law or declare any law invalid for the country; this system is more like the ruling.