Comparative Study of Political System in UK and US

Comparative Study of Political System in UK and US Abstract: There are more than 200 nations in the world, and different nations have different political systems. In each kind of system, it has its own characteristics. Everyone belongs to their own country, as everyone belongs to their own family, so they should make sense of their own nations political system just like that they know well about their own family. Through this passage, by comparative study of political system in UK and US in various views, such as the leader, law-making organization, main parties and election, we could know the political systems more clearly.Key words: system; UK; USIn newspapers or on the radio, we often hear of some words such as “the British Prime Minister Tony Blair” or “the United States President Bush” and so on. As we all know, they are both the leaders of the two countries, but why do not they have the same appellations? Thats only for the reason that different titles belong to different political systems.I. Political system in UKConstitutional MonarchySince 1688, the political system in UK is Constitutional Monarch, and Britain is a Western democracy with a two-party political system. It has three-tiered government, and the central government enforces laws through local governments. The central government includes three partsthe Monarch, Parliament and the Cabinet, and the three parts have different powers, from which we could make UKs political system clear.A. Power of MonarchyThe British people look to the monarchy (Queen or King) not only as their head of State, but also as the symbol of the national unity. He or she appoints the prime minister and other ministers on the advice of the prime minister. He or she is the head of the judiciary and the commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Crown. By law, monarchy is the leader of the country, and the power of monarchy is sovereign. However, in fact, the actual power belongs to Cabinet now, and most of the time, monarchy is only as the symbol of the national unity.B. Cabinet and Prime MinisterCabinet, composed of ministers of departments of the government and headed by the prime minister, meets in private and its meetings are secret. All the ministers must speak in one voice on government policies. Cabinet has the power to make election ahead at any time they think well, which only based on its own opinion. Prime minister is the leader of the country in fact. He leads the Cabinet and controls the finance of the country. He also has the power to advice Chancery to monarchy, and before the Cabinet gives to the House of Commons, all the bills must be agreed by the prime minister. The tour of duty of the prime minister is five years, during this period of time, most of the members in the parliament are from the leader party. C. ParliamentParliament is the ;aw-making body. It passes laws for the whole nation as well as for particular region. But the bills or Acts passed by Parliament must be approved by the Monarch before they go into effect. The English Parliament consists of three elements: the Queen, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. 1. House of LordsHouse of Lords is consisted of the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the descendant of the royal and the hereditary noble. After the revolution to the House of Lords, only 92 members are left. 2. House of CommonsThe members of the House of Commons come from National Election, and the tour of duty is 5 years. But the Government has the power to make the election ahead. II. Political system in USFederalismA. PresidentThe United States president is the leader of the nation and the government; he is also the Commander in Chief of the army. President has no responsibility to the Congress. Presidential election is indirect, and the tour of duty is 4 years. He also has the power to advance the members in the Council of Government, which is in fact the assistants and the team of advisor. In the law part, president has the power to deny any decision made by the Congress, unless both two thirds of the members in Senate and House of Representative denied the presidents decision. In the diplomatic part, president is the symbol of the nation. He also has the power to advice the ambassador. B. Legislative SystemCongress is the law-making body of the United States. The U.S. Congress includes two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate and the House of Representatives are considered equal by law and any proposal must pass both of them before going to the president for his signature. Only Congress has the power to declare war. C. Judicial SystemThe judicial branch of the federal government is composed of a system of law courts headed by the Supreme Court that is the highest defender of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. president with Senatorial approval appoints the judges of the federal courts. It has the power to try any American citizen who has violated the federal law. D. Executive SystemThe executive branch, known as the Administration and headed by the President, is granted the power to enforce the laws passed by Congress. As the chief executive leader, the president appoints the chiefs of the various departments with Senatorial approval. A president can be elected to office only twice. III. Comparative Study of Political System in UK and USA. The Similarities in the Two CountriesEngland is a Parliament to exercise legislative power, the cabinet exercises political power, the court exercises judicature in the judicial organization; The actually national right controls in the propertied class hand. But the national right in the United States is divided into legislative power, the administrative power and judicature is three parts, being respectively carried out by national legislature, president and court.B. The Similarities in the Two Countries1. Leader of the NationNational leader in Britain is the monarchy (king or queen), but the monarchy have no solid power, instead, the cabinet prime minister is the center person of government and cabinet, holding the tallest solid power. But in the United States, the president is the real national leader, andalso is a political arena key person and the mastermind of the government, who controls national biggest solid power.2. Tallest Law-making organizationIn British, the parliament is the tallest law-making organization, but there are no civil law and penal code of presentable, it with history of written laws, common law. Organization in constituting of the United States is a national legislature, it the tallest law is a federal constitution.3. Two Main ParitiesThe two greatest political parties in the United States are Democracy Party and Republican Party, two greatest political parties rule in turn; while The two greatest political parties of England are the Liberal Party and Conservative Party.4. ElectionElecting of England is every 5 years once, but Cabinet the prime minister can hold an election in advance in oneself the tenure according to the circumstance; while the president of the United States didnt elect a times 4 years. And the president serve another term to expect the most two term.IV. ConclusionThrough the introduction and comparison to the political systems in UK and US, we could get a clear realization to the two different nations, besides just know the two phrases “Constitutional Monarchy” and “Federalism”. But only knowing the systems of the countries are not all the purposes of this passages. Britain and America are both the strong countries in the world, especially in the finance. From this part, we could get the conclusion that their political system has their own advantage. As our nation China, we mustnt just copy from the others, but we have to learn others advantages in order to make ourselves strong. This is the ultimate purpose with the comparative study. Reference来安方，2002，新编英美概况。河南：河南人民出版社。刘春伟，2005，英语国家人文知识概况。 北京：机械工业出版社。5