Federalism Analysis

To what extent do the constitutions of the USA and the UK differ?

Constitution, as far as politics are concerned, is the term to describe the fundamental set of principles and rules according to which a state or any other organized political community is governed, as well as how the power is distributed in said state by regulating the relations of the various state organs to one another and to the citizens. (McKean, 2005,) Considering the fact that the manner in which each state is governed or the distribution of power tends to differ in each state, constitutions vary from one state to the other while the concept remains the same. The same rule applies for the United Kingdom and the United States of America, while both of them have a constitution

(Hueglin and Fenna, 2006) This is why federalism could be considered and advantage, as the local governments have far better understanding of the country they govern, therefore they are in a better position to make changes that actually benefit the country socially or economically. Also by not distributing power on only on one body of government , the member countries of the union become more involved in the decision making process. (Booth, 2015) Still, federalism does have some problematic aspects. (Hung, 2014) The greatest issues that arises when there is a central government and smaller local government is that of power. In most cases these power struggles could lead to a situation where one government attempts to assert their power over the other. The citizens, of each country in this case view their local government as the ultimate authority as it protects their interests and therefore might express their disapproval when the central government takes some measures that might be less beneficial to the region/country in question. As a result of the two bodies of power conflicting with other, such conflict tends to result in a compromise on important issues. Compromise though, while it tends to be the desired outcome of a conflict, is not always truly beneficial when dealing with life changing and vital policies. In some cases

A crucial characteristic, as nowadays changing the laws in order to accommodate new principles, perceptions, and beliefs, has become necessary. All that is required is for the parliament to acknowledge such need for changes and thus make an amendment if necessary. Consequently, traditional laws in the UK constitution can be subject to change in order to adapt to changing situations and the spirit of the age. This characteristic is a way to facilitate the democratic procedures that are taking place and that the constitution is protected by both the judiciary and parliament. Compared to an uncodified constitution, its codified counterpart is rather difficult to modify and therefore make it more adaptive to the changes that take place. In fact, the US having such a constitutional model, reveals how challenging it can be for laws to be changed. Aside from being more flexible compared to the codified constitutional model, the uncodified constitution makes conventions and judicial judgments far more responsive to various changes in the society. As a result, it offers the judicial system the opportunity to expand freely on any limitations. Yet, the constitution in an unwritten form in this case may increase the likelihood of politicization, (Bowcott, 2011) as parliamentary supremacy