British system of government
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. Britain doesn’t have a written constitution, but set of laws. Queen Elizabeth II. Is a ceremonial head of the state, but she doesn’t rule actually. Queen is usually represented by governors. Her official title is: „Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other Realms and Territories. Queen, Head of Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith“. She is also the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. The Queen’s oldest son is Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, who is actually the heir to the throne.
Parliament is the greatest authority in Britain. Parliament consists of the Sovereign (Queen), The House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Sovereign formally summons and dissolves Parliament. The House of Lords is made up by hereditary peers, life peers and peeresses, lords of appeal, archbishops and bishops. The House is presided over by the Lord Chancellor. The House of Lords has no real power but acts rather as an advisory council for the House of Commons. They are the highest court of appeal. A lot of people think that the House of Lords should be abolished. The House of Commons is simply elected by adults in a general election and it has got about 650 members from each of the four countries, which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The party with the most seats forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. The function of the House of Commons is legislation and checks the government activities. Chief is the Speaker who is elected by the members of this House. A general election must be held every 5 years. Everyone, who is over 18, is able to vote but the candidate has got to be over 21. After Prime Minister is elected, his first job is to choose the cabinet which consists of the most important ministers in the government. The Prime Minister usually takes policy decisions with the agreement of the Cabinet.
The most important parties in Great Britain are Conservative Party, the Labour Party and Social Democratic Alliance Party. The Conservative Party mainly represents wealthy people who believe in tradition, free enterprise and privatisation. The Labour Party is the party of working classes. Social Democratic Alliance disagree with both parties and criticise the way the election goes.
U.S. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
The U.S. system of government is based on the constitution adopted in 1789, where federal government can levy federal taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money and regulate its value, establish post offices, declare war and so on. Each state and each district has its own government. They maintain its police force, education, construction of highways, parks, libraries etc. In State government the legislative department consists of State Senate and State Assembly. Executive department is headed by Governor and Lieutenant Governor. That’s exactly the same as President and Vice President. Judicial department has got State Supreme court and lower courts. There are couple of parties in the U.S.A. like Communists or Liberal party but the major ones are the Republican Party and Democratic Party. The Republican Party is practically supported by rich people but on the other side the Democratic Party supports poor and unemployed people. Before new president is elected, both major political parties hold a convention. The next step is to nominate candidates for president. Finally people can vote for an Elector who promises to vote for a certain candidate. Electors chosen from each state form so called an Electoral College. U.S. government is made up of three branches: The executive, legislative and judicial branch.
Executive department is made up of President and Presidential Cabinet that is just making President Familiar with current problems and gives him all kind of advice. President lives in White House in Washington DC. He is elected for a four-year term but the maximum that he can serve is two terms. President has got to be natural born U.S. citizen with at least 35 years. He deals with foreign affairs, makes treaties, receives ambassadors from other countries, and appoints the Cabinet and he can´t remove members of Congress. President is Commander in Chief of armed forces and he has the power to veto legislation. If President rejects the bill sent by Congress, the bill goes again to Congress and they vote again. If two thirds of both Houses agree, the bill becomes a law. But the judicial branch can declare this law unconstitutional. Vice President represents President during his absence or inability to work. He presides over the Senate and he automatically becomes President in case of the death of the real President and when this situation happens, there´s no more Vice President.
Legislative branch which is Congress is made up of Senate and House of Representatives. Senate consists of 16 comities. There are 100 senators, 2 from each state. One third of the Senate is elected every year. Senators must be a citizen of U.S.A. and he has got to be at least 30 years old. Senate can accuse President. House of Representatives consists of 20 comities. There are 435 members who are elected every two years and once again they´ve got to be a citizen of U.S.A. and at least 25 years old. Every 400 000 inhabitants cover one seat, so it deals with the population of the state.
And finally the judicial branch is made up of Supreme Court and lower courts. There are 9 judges in the Supreme Court. They hold their offices for life. And as I mentioned above, court can declare laws unconstitutional.