Merits and Why Confederation is Unpopular

Merits of Confederation:

(i) It promotes unity in diversity.

(ii) It protects the individuality and identity of the component units as they cooperate to achieve their goal.

(iii) It allays the fears of denomination or marginalization of any unit.

(iv) There is no controversy over where the loyalty of the citizens lies.

(v) It promotes cooperation and healthy competition among the confederating units.

(vi) It leads to rapid development as the units compete to make the lives of their citizens better.

(vii) A confederating unit that desires to break away from the confederating units can easily do so as the constitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental rules that determine how a country or state is run. More permits that.

(viii) It enables each unit the opportunity to make diverse laws for the effective administration of the state, putting into confederation the peculiarities of that unit.

Why Confederation is Unpopular:

(i) Confederal system of government is a loose political union with a weak government at the centre which cannot control the confederating units.

(ii) Citizens pay more allegiance to the units than to the centre. There may be an absence of patriotism.

(iv) This system is fragile and can easily disintegrate/break away. It may cause political instability.

(v) It may be difficult to promote national unity as each unit retains its own identity.

(vi) The constitution of a confederation is flexible and can be amended without getting the support of all the units. This may cause friction. 

(vii) There is uneven development as units develop at their own pace.

(viii) Decision-making and implementation waste a lot of time.