Essay On The British Parliamentary System

Word Count: 2,184

The core component of modern liberal democracies is the legislature and political institutions it is comprised of. Different factors are involved towards the evolution of political institutions in each of these countries. For instance, The United States and The United Kingdom are known to be powerful liberal democracies, though both nations differ politically. The key difference between the two nations is their system of government and looking at how each system works is particularly important while determining how democratic the nation really is. In this paper I will demonstrate how both nations evolved constitutionally and illustrate the factors resulting in the United States developing a presidential system and the United Kingdom developing a parliamentary system. Moreover, I will demonstrate the implications of both governing styles on each country’s policymaking and

The British parliamentary system of government functions on the principle of straight rule of majority. This allows for quick decision-making processes by a popular majority and elected representatives in the government. (Way 2009) The British Parliamentary system holds a single national election. Policymaking is a task for a united, majority party in the legislature, and to reiterate, the majority party is led and managed by the top executive authority; the Prime Minister. (Way 2009) The formation of an electoral coalition consisting of a national majority allows British elections to be a rapid process. For instance, the elected representatives are in control of the institutional mechanism of exercising authority on matters of national public policy. This gives one party a clear majority of the seats in the lower and more powerful House of the legislature and the legitimate right to control the executive as well as legislative organs of government. (Way