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The functions of parliament
Compare and contrast the British parliamentary system to the American presidential system
Similarities between British parliamentary and U S A presidential systems of government
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THE SEARCH FOR TRUE REPRESENTATION
A Contrasting view on the American Presidential System & British Parliamentary System
Within the realm of the political world, scholars of political science have researched and studied many different Democratic governments. Testing and analyzing many different factor from by which one can accurately describe their overall effectiveness with respect to maintaining the very precept of promoting Democracy. The goal of this essay will be to compare both the British parliamentary system with the American Presidential system. It would only be fair to compare our current Democratic government to that of our former colonizers, whose parliamentary system, is a form of government we have borrow many great influences from. Additionally, these two countries share very similar qualities with one another. These include cultural ties, similar governing bodies, and an overall similar political orientation. These similarities will allow me to maintain a greater overall control with respect to addressing the very differences in both governments. The goal of this paper is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both systems with respect to promoting the very quality of Democracy to its respective societies.
By definition, in order to argue which system will serve as a tool to best promote Democracy, this paper will explain the many differences between the two systems with important commentary from academic scholars who are experts in the subject. This paper will begin with a discussion on both the British Parliamentary and American Presidential systems. This discussion will compare the differences with respect to elections, elected officials, and the respective houses (Congress & House of Common). Follo...
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... who if elected, will make up the Cabinet. The head of government within this system is the Prime Minister, who serves as head of both the executive and legislative branches. Prime Ministers achieve power through their political party, who typically achieve the highest percentage of seats after an election, and are ultimately selected by the Parliament to serve.
Essentially, this takes the responsibility of citizens from appointing the Prime Minister by allowing the elected Cabinet from selecting the preferred candidate.
The British Parliamentary system & American Presidential: Net Benefits & Negatives
Within the framework of the both of these political systems, contrasting differences exist but irrespective of this, we must consider the negatives and positives each system helps create for the respective constituencies they were created to represent.
In this essay I will argue that British General Elections should be conducted using a system of Proportional Representation. First, I will argue that the system would be more democratic as every vote that is cast would be represented and this ...
The composition of the ministry and cabinet also depends on how many seats the government controls in the House of Commons. A minority government is created when one single party has less than half the seats in the House of Commons yet more than the other parties when they stand alone. One of the main advantages in having a minority government is that the government must work with the other parties to come to a consensus regarding bills and policies; in doing this, there is broader representation of Canadian interests. While this is a benefit for Canadian citizens, it is a drawbac...
Congress and The Presidency Congress as a whole makes laws. When Bills are addressed they must meet the approval of both the House and the Senate in order to become a Law, and then the President can always veto it. Congress also deals with matters of public concern be it something that needs to be investigated or something that needs to be put before the public to raise awareness. Congress is made up of two parts: The Senate and the House of Representatives. Each is granted different powers and responsibilities.
Congress has helped develop the Presidency as we know it today. This is because Congress argues over proposals and legislation proposed by the President. They are a major determent in whether bills turn into laws. But it’s not easy. One reason for this is because there are many powerful groups out there who argue about what should be discussed such as air pollution with the EPA or jobs.
Karp, Jeffrey A., and Susan A. Banducci. " Political Efficacy and Participation in Twenty-Seven Democracies: How Electoral Systems Shape Political Behaviour." British Journal of Political Science 38 (2008): 311-334. Cambridge Journals. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.
In the report by Paul Howe and David Northrup titled, “Strengthening Canadian Democracy: the Views of Canadians” Policy Matters 1:5, Canadians attitudes towards government including questions about electoral system reform, representation and the rate of veter turnout.(Howe & Northrup, 2000) After reading, this report it is clear that many Canadians find many issues of their government to be unacceptable. One of the most menacing concerns is in the form that government attains office. The voting process, the form in which Canadians are represented by their Members of Parliament, and the first past the post method of election.
When discussing the makeup of Congress, one must first look to the intent of the framers around creating a bicameral legislature. This would take me to the first section of our class regarding the debates the founding fathers had about equal representation of the states in the Congress.
The political culture that defines American politics shows that despite this compromise, America is still very much a democratic society. The very history of the country, a major contributor to the evolution of its political culture, shows a legacy of democracy that reaches from the Declaration of Independence through over two hundred years to today’s society. The formation of the country as a reaction to the tyrannical rule of a monarchy marks the first unique feature of America’s democratic political culture. It was this reactionary mindset that greatly affected many of the decisions over how to set up the new governmental system. A fear of simply creating a new, but just as tyrannic... ...
The Prime Minister of Canada has an integral role within the Canadian parliament. In the political Parliamentary system of Canada, the Prime Minister wields the executive responsibility. He is accountable for an assortment of administrative, managerial, and supervisory decisions in effect across the country. The executive role is the branch of government that is generally responsible for creating laws, and enforcing the regulations to ensure these laws are observed.
Debating which constitutional form of government best serves democratic nations is discussed by political scientist Juan Linz in his essay “The Perils of Presidentialism”. Linz compares parliamentary systems with presidential systems as they govern democracies. As the title of Linz’s essay implies, he sees Presidentialism as potentially dangerous. Linz points out the flaws as presidentialism as he sees them and sites rigidity of fixed terms, the zero-sum game and political legitimacy coupled with lack of incentive to form alliances as issues to support his theory that the parliamentary system is superior to presidentialism.
There have been enormous efforts to spread democracy as a political system throughout the world by the developed democratic countries and the international development organizations including the World Bank. By the late 1990s the United States alone spent over a half billion dollars to promote democratic expansion throughout the world (Diamond, 2003). These were done considering that the democratic system leads towards development. As a result in the late 20th century we saw a huge political transformation towards democracy. During the last few decades a huge number of countries adopted democracy as their political system. However, it retain a big question how far democracy is successful in bringing development of a country? At this stage, some people also criticizes the effort of democratization arguing that it is done without considering the context of a country, sometimes democracy is not ideal for all countries and it is an effort to extinct diversity of political system. In studying the literature regarding the debate, we found a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development. Some argue that democracy has failed to ensure expected outcomes in terms of development. While others confronted that democracy has a considerable impact on development. Another group of people argue that form of political system actually does not have any impact on development process. On the verge of these debates, some development institutions and academics throw light on why democracy is not working properly, and what measure should be taken to make it more successful in bringing effective development of developing countries. Consequently, this writing is an effort of revisiting the different views about impact of democra...
The change of electoral system of Britain from first-past-the-post to form of proportional representation caused discussions and argues in the whole country. Does new system inspirit and change course to better or lead to weak and indecisive government? Whereas first-past-the-post developed stable majorities in parliament, there are always was a lack of suffer from grave shortcomings, for example majority of population remains unrepresented in government bodies, and a party, which wins less voices in selection than their contestants, can be represented by more seats. Nation is looking forward to see the fairness and progress of parliamentary works of country, which can be motivated by advantageousness of proportional representation. However, there are still many people who think critically about this newness. As said, all that glitters is not gold, proportional representation also has its disadvantages, so people, relying on them, are against to change from first-past-the-post.
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they deem appropriate and can denounce them once they no longer appease them. In this paper, the benefits of democracy are outlined, compared to autocratic communism, and finally the flaws of democracy are illustrated.
Although, both systems of government fit under the category of democracy, they are quite distinctive in many aspects. Ranging from how their executive officer is elected to how their legislature is run. These democratic forms of government in the United States and the United Kingdom have set an example and foundation for other countries forming similar governments. Where a parliamentarism rises above presidentialism in the aspects of its government and the evidence shown to support that parliamentary systems of government are more exceptional. Such as research done