Multi-level government: international, national and sub-national

Abstract

Government in all but the smallest countries is organised like a set of ‘Chinese boxes’, or ‘Russian dolls’, one unit of government tucked inside another. The smallest units of community or neighbourhood government fit into local government: which (in federal systems) is contained by state/regional/provincial government which is part of the national system of government which is a member of various organisations of international government. For example, a resident of Wilmersdorf-Charlottenburg lives in one of the twelve Bezirke (boroughs) that form the City of Berlin: which is one of the sixteen Lander (states) that make up the Federal Republic of Germany which is one of the member states of the EU in Europe, of NATO in Europe and North America and of the UN across the entire globe. Government is organised on different geographical levels in this way because no single centre could possibly do everything itself. It must be divided, not only into different branches at the national level (executive, legislative, judiciary) but also into smaller territorial units of local administration and policy making at the sub-national level. Nor can countries manage their affairs entirely on their own; even the largest and most powerful must deal with other countries to solve international problems of security, diplomacy, the environment and trade.