Democratic System Of Government

Improved Essays
This political study will define the democratic principles of federalism, presidentialism, and parliamentary sovereignty in a comparison and contrast of the governments in the United States and in England. In the United States, the concentration of presidential is a unique part o democratic institutions, which relies on the three branches of government as a balance of power. More so, U.S. president must govern through the federal governing apparatus, which controls his power through the judicial branch and the Congress. In a similar form of Congressional democracy, the British system of governing relies on the parliamentary sovereignty of the legislative body to make governing decisions. However, Britain does not utilize a presidential system …show more content…
The federal government acts as a supreme authority of the land, which formed around the tri-parte system of checks and balances found in the presidency, judiciary, and the Congress. In contrast to the overriding authority of the British parliamentary system, the American government relies on the three branches to make critical decisions as an authority over the states. In comparison, however, Great Britain relies heavily on a legislative body in which decision are made through a federated system of governance. In the U.S., the Congress wields the same type of representational governing authority, which is not dissimilar from the methods used in the party system in British government. These are the territorial divisions of government, which makes Great Britain and the U.S. a type of federalized form of democracy: “Although some dispersal of power across territorial and/or functional units is characteristic of all democracies” (Schmitter and Karl 84). This type of federal system is prominent in the U.S. and in Britain, yet they show variable levels of territorial control based on how decisions are made through a legislative body. Therefore, the issue of accountability in various constituencies defines the role of geographical location in the use of a centralized form of democratic government. Britain and the U.S. share …show more content…
The similarities of federalism and parliamentary sovereignty in the U.S. and Britain are founded on the power of the legislative body to the representational and territorial facts of democratic institutions. More so, the ability of the U.S. federal government as a “checks and balances” system provides a similar use of parliamentary power in the Congress. However, the U.S. relies more heavily on a tri-parte system of legislative government, which allows a certain concentration of war powers through presidentialism. These factors define the overarching power of the American presidency, which makes the president and the Congress accountable for their actions. In a contrasting way, the British parliament does not allow the same powers to the Prime Minister or The Queen as means of accountability in the governing process. In these the principles, it is important to know the similarities and differences of governing democracies, which illustrate the centralization of power as apart of these transatlantic institutions. The United States and Britain share a great many democratic traditions in governing, but they have differing ways in which an authoritarian governance is still evident in the presidentialism and monarchical connections to these institutions. The factors of

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Essay On Civic Literacy

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages

    To grasp a frim understanding of our nations early years we must first understand how and why we became a nation. A solid foundation will prime further comprehension of our government and how exactly it functions. If we know how our nation started, our struggle for independence and our founding father’s goals and intentions we will have more insight into to why our government is structured the way it is. As many know, the colonists were very hesitant to implement a strong government, as they had had continuous struggle with the previous British monarchy and did not want such things to happen again. But we soon learned after the failure of the Articles of Confederation that a strong government was needed if we were to thrive and survive as a nation. Things such as the government’s power to tax and a universal currency made trading much easier and allowed the government to deal with foreign affairs as a nation, not as separate states. In part, a strong central government was needed if they were to keep rebellions at bay, as shown with Shays rebellion. Thus, we have the reasoning behind the structure and function our government. Three branches, each having their own power and checks and balances ensures that one section of government never gets too powerful. With history in mind, citizens can more firmly understand our divided, equally powerful…

    • 1514 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ever since America was founded, its population has always struggled with the balance between national and local politics. A national government was favored because of its ability to maintain cohesiveness among the whole population, while local, smaller governments were favored in order to limit the powers of the national government and to prevent the tyranny the colonists faced before fleeing from Britain. While some Americans argue that states’ rights hold more importance over the power of the federal government, an “overall trend in American history shows the increase of dominance of local over national politics.” The dominance of the federal government is beneficial for American society because it is more efficient, more democratic, and…

    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Our society continuously evaluates the balancing of powers between the state government and the federal government. It is important in a democracy for the powers to be equally distributed, for if one person in the government takes total control, it would no longer be a democracy. A government with too much power isn’t a good thing, for the society itself would change. One of the main things that helps our society balance the powers between the governments are the three divisions of government.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The constitution guards against tyranny (a form of government where the leader or leaders have absolute dictatorship over their people or domain) in many ways, some of which including the concepts of federalism, checks and balances, and the separation of powers. Federalism is the idea that state and federal government should be separated; each should have its own freestanding laws and obligations that are applicable with the overall structure of the constitution. Checks and balances is the concept that each separate branch of government should ‘check’ on one another to keep the system in ‘balance’. Finally, the separation of powers is the idea that there should be separate branches of government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kee and Shannon (1992) offer a historical analysis to explain the changes in power and responsibility of the state/local government and the federal government. They examine the following three historical periods of federalism to understand the shifting eras of power between the fifty states and the United States capitol.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    National and state governments work as two similar spheres of authority, even though their functions may overlap and can cause tension. James Bryce, stated that “the system is like a great factory where two sets of machinery are at work, their revolving wheels apparently intermixed, their bands crossing on another, yet each set doing its own worth without touching or hampering the other.” (Bryce 1916, vol. 1). When under a federal system, federal and state governments both have their own constitutions in which they derive the authority to benefit for individuals and act on behalf. Federalism is the happy compromise of the nation and in its capacity, to present when conducting foreign policy. Of course, there are a few disadvantages to the federal system, because it requires different institutions to approve a policy before it can actually come adopted. Each decision in the federal system can become a veto point that slows the process of policy making down, or it can prevent any action from being taken to solve a problem. Even including some downfalls with the system, one of the most fundamental principles of the American political system is…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At first, under the Articles of Confederation, the leaders wanted a government based on popular sovereignty, which was by the people-for the people. Because these leaders had just come out of such tight control under the rule of Great Britain, the states didn’t want to give the government too much power. This gave the majority of the power to the states. However, the political leaders soon realized that individual state governments weren’t working and decided to change the rule of the government once more. Now the country shifted to a strong central government with a bicameral legislature of a congress with the Senate and the House of Representatives. The senate has two representatives per state, and the House of Representatives is based off of population of each state, where larger states get more representatives. This government also established an executive branch which has a president chosen by the Electoral College to overlook and run things, and a judicial branch to enforce the laws set in place and keep the president in check; known as checks and balances. Therefore, this new government still gave the people power and a voice, but not too much power to where they could destroy the government and the…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the Americans were creating their new government, they kept the features of the government they did not want in mind. They wanted to ensure that their government was very different from the monarchy that Britain had by trying to make a central government where its powers were not necessarily weak, but where the power rested in the people. Another feature that the Americans did not want in their new government was unequal representation. They despised the lack of representation they had in Parliament, and as they created their new government they ensured that every state was represented equally so the concerns of the people could be properly addressed. Because of this, the American public was adamant that the new government’s powers were…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In America the powers are shared among states and the federal government. Each of the states have limits to the powers granted them by the constitution and same applies to the federal government. Democracy under federalist system works or operates like a double edged sword. The system has strengths and weaknesses that are associated with it.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While creating our government, the United States’ founding fathers created a democratic republic that relies on the people of America along with electoral colleges to vote for the leaders and representatives that create new laws, get rid of some laws, and enforce the laws. Our government is split into three separate branches that have separate responsibilities and help control and balance each other so that no one group has too much power. These three branches are the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, and Judicial Branch. They work together to govern and protect our country.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Seal Analysis

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In addition to the difference over representation, American views of their constitutions diverged from her mother country in regard to the source of authority for a constitution, and whether a constitution should be written and fixed or whether it should be more fluid. In May of 1776 a congressional resolution officially “advising the colonies to adopt new governments under the authority of the people” (65). In the constitution making that followed in 1776 and 1777 states relied on the principle of popular sovereignty espoused by the colonists in the previous decade. In an effort to prevent future tyranny, American states forwent the English notion of a constitution, “the existing arrangement of government-that is, laws, customs, and institutions together with the principles they embodied,” in favor of “single written document… outlining the powers of government and specifying the rights of citizens” (66). In the new governments by the states, the most important layer became, just like in The Great Seal’s pyramid, not the top but the bottom. “By throwing off monarchy and becoming republicans in 1776, Americans offered a different concept of what people were like and new ways of organizing both the state and the society.” (93) With power held in the lowermost layer of society, there needed to be a way to ensure the power stayed in that location. To make this happen Americans adopted Montesquieu’s doctrine of separation of powers. Despite the separation of powers doctrine, most state constitution further felt the need to establish a weak executive. The purpose of this Gordon Wood argues is “to keep the judiciary and especially the legislature free from executive manipulation.” (68) ---- This was a radical shift in the responsibility of government, with a strong base of public power…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In this chapter it describes the type of government is used and the pros and cons. According to Johannes, “the Parliamentary government is the type of government that rest on the principle of concentrating political power, fusing legislative, and executive authority (16).” This type of government is considered to be effective and efficient. This type of government depends on strong political parties. The political parties elect their members using different methods, however, there are pros and cons in Parliamentary government. This government can be effective and efficient but has numerous vulnerabilities. Johannes stated a question, “would a parliamentary system be preferable to the American presidential system (18)?” However, who can truly say what type of government is prime. Every government is going to possess vulnerabilities. Moreover, I don 't believe that a Parliamentary government will benefit the American government since the American government is based on freedom and the people. A Parliamentary system gives entirely too much power to the leader and America’s government separates the party, however, the president is the leader. Therefore, I disagree that a Parliamentary system will benefit the American…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The U.S. has the House of Representatives and the Senate and in Britain Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. However, in the U.S. both chambers are elected, whereas it is only the House of Commons that is elected in Britain. Because of this, the President of the United States has more limitations to his power than the Prime Minister in Britain (Classroom.synonym.com). For example, Barack Obama was the previous Democratic President but had a Republican majority in Congress which made it difficult for him to get his policies through, as the Congress could vote down every suggestion from him. In Britain however, there such limitation on the Prime Minister’s power. However, his room for movement on various policies, for example, depends on his party’s majority in the House of Commons. The larger the majority, the more easily the PM and the government can get through policies and legislation, without the interference of any branches such as in the U.S. Therefore, if the Prime Minister has a large majority, he or she can make a significant change in Britain during their time in power (Ndla.no). In summary, both nations a\have two chambers, however the U.S.’s political system can give the President more limited power than the PM’s in…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his article, “The Perils of Presidentialism” Juan Linz observe that there are few stable democracies that have presidential systems of government. On the contrary, there are many parliamentary democracies and historically, they have performed better. Three major problems of presidential systems can be deduced from his essay; 1) Dual legitimacy, 2) fixed term, and 3) winner-takes-all logic. After explaining all three problems, this paper argues that winner-takes-all logic is as much applicable to parliamentary systems as it is to presidential systems.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The United States and the United Kingdom’s system of choosing the leader of vary greatly in how the processes are done. But if one were to investigate and research further into the systems, one would find the fundamental processes are similar in which they operate with only a few key differences between the two electoral processes. One of the major differences between the United Kingdom and the United States is that in the UK citizens do not directly elect the leader of the country, they simply vote for members of parliament, and the party with the most seats in parliament usually has its leader selected by the Queen as its prime minister. (UK Parliament 2015) The difference between that process and the one present in the United States is that…

    • 2495 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays