France and Great Birtain's Political Systems
INTRODUCTION
I chose these two systems, which interest me for different reasons. The British system is one that has evolved over many centuries, with both small and large adjustments along the way to keep in on course. In contrast to this, the French model has changed dramatically on several occasions, and can rarely have been described as stable. However, in 1958 Charles de Gaulle made some brave changes to the constitution, which after being approved by the French public, set the scene for the classic semi-presidential system that we see today.
Despite these opposing histories, there are many similarities between the two systems, which I intend to discuss.
BRITAIN
The
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The cabinet is the most senior group of government ministers, and usually numbers around 20.
The Government is answerable to parliament, from which its members are taken. A vote of no confidence can be called if any government-sponsored bill is defeated in the Commons. If the vote of no confidence is passed, the PM must either resign, or ask the monarch to dissolve parliament, and call a general election. In practice, since a government usually holds a majority in the Commons, and party ‘whips’ try to ensure that party members support the government, governments are likely to win all but the most controversial votes.
If however, a government doesn’t have a large majority, then it will do it can to bring ‘backbench’ MPs into line, and call three-line whips – i.e. votes that are compulsory for MPs to attend, sometimes even being brought in from hospital beds to vote.
PARLIAMENT
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). It consists of a head of state (currently Queen Elizabeth II), a bicameral system with an upper house – House of Lords, and a lower house – House of Commons
At its head is the Sovereign; it also includes an Upper House, called the House of Lords, and a Lower House, called the House of Commons.
Firstly, the House of Commons has the ultimate check on government power via a vote of no confidence, this last happened in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was able to be elected due to the Labour government's failure.
Under the US Constitution our legislature is a bicameral containing a House of Representatives and a Senate. The Australian constitution has a parliamentary system, which is not bicameral, although their system has a house of representatives and a senate; these two houses have to share power with the Queen. The Prime Minister leads the legislature.
In a system of governance, if a hung parliament occurs, that is, when a parliament has no single party and thus no legitimate way to form a government, the government can actually gain advantages. Instead of a single party majority, minority governments allow multiple parties to govern. A minority government does not hinder a governing party because it promotes accountability to the legislature, which allows a more flexible decision-making process, that ultimately provides a Prime Minister different powers to maintain control which allows an efficient government.
Under the British constitution, parliament is sovereign. This means, amongst other things, that Parliament has a monopoly on making and amending laws. The British constitution, and the three functions of government which operate it often falls short of creating a definitive separation. Separation of powers refers to the idea that the major institutions of government should function independent of each other, in a utopian world there should aim to be a balance between the Crown and Parliament. In practice however, separation between the executive and legislature is near enough non-existent, an example being that government is made up almost entirely of MPs. Contrast this with the USA where no member of Obama’s government is equally a member of congress. However, the USA does have a codified constitution, a constitution written to delegate a clear separation of power. As we are well aware the UK doesn’t have such a constitution, the rules that
Fundamentally the UK government does not have elective dictatorship. The government is still elected even though they have a large majority of seats in the House of Commons. However if a government does have a very large majority they are able to make big changes very quickly but all times they are
The central government is normally located in the capital city; which in our case it’s London. The central government runs the whole country by taking up the most important responsibilities that any other government levels in the UK has. These responsibilities are making new laws, signing agreements with the other nations and also defending the nation. The central government has these responsibilities as it’s the main government within the UK and it contains the 3 political institutions which make up parliament which are: the House of Commons, and the House of Lords and the monarch. These institutions work together. The house of commons creates new laws which they feel will work well for the British community. The house of lords has a
Sentences 1. The republic of the United States allows the citizens to elect representatives to make laws that satisfy the needs of the people. 2. Before the Constitution was written, the U.S. government had an unicameral legislature; a single law-making body. 3.
In the UK, Parliament consists of the Monarchy, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This has existed for centuries and has stood the test of time, in that it still exists. However a number of concerns have been raised about some of the functions and whether they function adequately enough (to a satisfactory or acceptable extent). Parliament currently carries out several functions and is the prime legislative body in the UK. It has many functions such as being representative, legitimising legislation, calling government to account as well as scrutinising and amending legislation. It is made up of representatives who are voted in order to represent
As the most widely adopted form of democratic government there are many strengths associated with a parliamentary government. The parliamentary system is often praised for the fast and efficient way in which it is able to pass legislation. The reason this is possible is because unlike a presidential system the legislative and executive power in a parliamentary system are merged together. Due to this fusion of power legislation does not have to undergo a lengthy process and therefore laws can be formulated and put into place much quicker(Bates, 1986: 114-5). Another advantage of a parliamentary system is that the majority of the power is not held by one individual head of state but rather is more evenly divided among a single party or coalition. One of the main benefits of this is that as there is more of a division of power a parliamentary government is less prone to authoritarianism than a presidential system. Juan Linz argues that a presidential system is more dangerous due to the fact that; “Winners and losers are sharply defined for the entire period of the presidential mandate”(Linz, 1990: 56), this sharp line between winners and losers increases tension between these two groups and allows the winner to isolate themselves from other political parties (Linz, 1990: 56). Due to this tension and isolation a presidential system is at a higher risk of turning into an authoritarian regime than a parliamentary system.
In England their form of government is called the Parliamentary Monarchy and the Queen Elizabeth II is the monarch for England. Crown is another name for monarch. “It serves as the head of the judiciary, commander in chief of the armed forces, supreme governor of the Church of England, and Church of Scotland, and summons and dismisses Parliament and ministers of the cabinet” (Meadows, 2001). With advice from the prime minister, the crown appoints, diplomats, military officials, judges, and archbishops and gives awards and honors. Justices of the peace known as local magistrates hear petty offenses. Local magistrates are unpaid members of the community who have been appointed by the Lord Chancellor. “Serious offenses are sent ot a Crown Court and jury of local citizens will make convictions and sentences which will be taken to the Court of Appeals for the Criminal Divisions with the final court appeals being the House of Lords” (Meadows, 2001).
The House of Lords is the second chamber of the UK Parliament and is independent to the Commons although it complements the work of the Commons. Members of the Lords play a vital role in scrutiny, there are two main reasons for this, the first being that they are independent to the Commons and in many ways have increased power which they often use to stand up to the Commons by blocking reforms. Lords also have a better balance of parties so no government has a majority. The Government however can override Lords by using Parliament Act; this was used when the fox hunting ban was being put through under Blair’s government as there were too many in opposition of the ban in the House of Lords. The Parliament Acts, although rarely used, provide a way of solving disagreement between the Commons and the Lords. The Parliament Act of 1949 also prevents Lords from delaying bills for more than one year.
One major issue that allows the Prime Minister execute such a high degree of ministerial power is the Cabinets ability to use party discipline to ensure it has its party’s support. MPs of the party must always “toe the party line” to guarantee the will of the PM is carried out. If any elected member of the Prime Ministers’ party were to vote against the PM, the PM has the executive
There were many early expeditions from Europe to North America, most in search of a
There are two main types of political systems, one being a presidential system and the other being a parliamentary system. Both of them have their own benefits as well as their own disadvantages. No political system can be perfect or can always have stability, but shown in history there are successful countries that use either one. Also there are countries that have failed with one of the two systems.
Parliament - Parliament is pretty much the identical to the legislative branch here in the US. The prime minister is accountable in his actions to the parliament. The parliament consists of the house of lords, house of commons and monarch.