Bicameral legislature, which means having two separate chambers or houses in a legislative body, are a common feature of federal systems. In a federal system, power is shared between a central government and smaller regional governments. The bicameral legislature provides a way for both the central government and the regional governments to be represented in the lawmaking process. This is in contrast to unitary systems, where all power is concentrated in a central government, and confederal systems, where power is held by independent states that have joined together in a loose alliance. Monarchical systems, on the other hand, are defined by the presence of a monarch as the head of state and do not necessarily have a bicameral legislature.