How is England government different from the US?

Answer 1

Parliamentary government differs from presidential government in many ways, but Britain is only one of many examples of parliamentary government.

First and foremost, the head of government and the head of state are different positions for different people and have different roles. In traditional parliamentary systems, the head of state is a ceremonial position which usually involves being essentially the country's top diplomat, advising the head of government, performing state functions like visiting other countries on state visits, receiving foreign officials, presenting state honours and sometimes even vetoing legislation. The head of state in a parliamentary system is almost exclusively called either a president or a king/queen (the UK has a Queen currently). If the head of state is a president in a parliamentary system, then he or she is usually either elected by the people or by parliament.

The head of government is the person who actually runs the country, and this person will usually co-ordinate government departments or actively order government ministers around depending on his or her style of governing. The head of government is always the leader of the ruling party in parliament. The title of the head of government varies per country (president of the government, president of the council of ministers, first minister, minister of state, chancellor, minister-president, premier, etc.) but is usually translated into English as 'prime minister', which is the version the UK uses.

Secondly, all the members of the government are part of the legislature (Parliament in the UK, Bundestag in Germany, Riksdag in Sweden, Congress in the US) and are fully accountable to it. Government ministers in the UK, for example, all tend to come from members of the ruling political party in parliament and are usually directly accountable to the electorate.

Now, as an aside there is also one other major system of government: the premier-presidential system. This is the system used by France, Russia and many other countries and is third in popularity. Basically, the president is popularly elected and chooses the leader of the largest party in parliament to be his head of government (usually a prime minister, but Russia has a chairman of the government). The President sets the agenda and chooses the heads of government departments who are all from parliament, but the president remains directly in charge of all foreign affairs. In some cases, the president is forced to accept a government from a different party to his own (this is called 'cohabitation').

Answer 2

The British Parliament is awesome compared to us congress. JK

ANSWER 2:

In a parliamentary system, you vote for a party. Each party then names members to parliament in proportion with the vote they received.

In a direct representational system, you vote for a particular person to represent you. That person may or may not belong to any party and the party does not control their ability to stay in office.

Answer 3

The US government is loosely based upon the British government structure, so there are obviously going to be some similarities, but they are quite different in how they function.

The British government is, of course, traditionally ruled by the monarch- at this time, Queen Elizabeth II. She is the "head of state", meaning she is technically in charge of the whole country, and when she visits Another Country, she more or less represents the country as a whole. However, in practice, the Queen rarely does any actual governing or ruling- she leaves that to the government.

The government is run by the Parliament. Parliament is a lot like the US Congress, but has different rules. It has two houses, just like Congress- the House of Commons, which is almost the same as the House of Representatives, and the House of Lords, which is similar to the US Senate- except, as the name suggests, the members are Lords- they have noble titles or are high ranking priests in the Anglican Church (in the US, we call it the Episcopal Church). In the US, the Senate and House are largely equal, although each has its own duties. In Parliament, most of the real work is done by the Commons and the Lords mostly just double-check the work done by the Commons. Members of the House of Commons represent different areas of the country, just like members of the House of Representatives.

The House of Commons passes laws and handles the budget, much like the House of Representatives. Additionally, they choose the Cabinet- in the US, the President and his Cabinet are almost totally separate from Congress, but in Parliament, the Prime Minster and the Cabinet are a part of the House of Commons. The political party with the most members ("seats") in Parliament gets to choose who is the Prime Minister and who are the members of the Cabinet. If no party has a majority of the seats, then two or more parties can join together in a coalition, so that their total combined seats make a majority- then the parties decide among themselves how to split up the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister is a lot like the President of the US, except he is considered "first among equals"- he is not in total command of the Cabinet. In the US, the President is in charge- if his Cabinet disagrees, then it doesn't matter, he gets his way. In the British Cabinet, the Prime Minister is not in command- he holds more clout and has a good deal of decision-making power, but ultimately the Cabinet members run their respective departments and are able to do things the Prime Minister might not want. The Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party, or the leader of the biggest party in a coalition; this can be a good thing, because it means that he will usually not have to face the gridlock we see in the US government now (with Republicans in charge of Congress but a Democratic President).

Unlike the US, elections are not always scheduled exactly the same. In the US, federal elections are always held in November, usually on the first Tuesday. In the UK, the elections are set by the Prime Minister when he formally asks the Queen to "dissolve Parliament". The elections are then held a few weeks later. Parliament sessions are not allowed to last more than five years, so the Prime Minister has to ask the Queen for dissolution before the five year term is up. However, these elections can be triggered at any time- if the Prime Minister fails to pass certain bills, notably a budgetary bill, then it triggers a new election. Or, if the Prime Minister loses control of his political party or does something really wrong, Parliament can hold a "vote of no confidence", passage of which also triggers a new election.

That's a relatively quick summary. It should be noted that many countries in Europe, as well as many in Africa and Asia, have some variation of the British "Parliamentary system", to include the "Semi-Presidential system" that countries like France and Russia use (in this system, it's almost exactly the same as what the UK uses, except they also have an elected President who has a lot of power). The US and most of Central/South America use the "Presidential system". The differences are largely noted above.

Answer 4

It doesn't have a President but apart from that it is similar they have a queen and parliament.

Britain is classed as a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. They have a monarch as head of state but that monarch does not rule. The role they play is largely ceremonial.

The leader of the government is the Prime Minister. Who, generally, holds a voting majority in the House of Commons. Oddly enough classed as the 'Lower House' in the parliamentary system there. The House of Commons is the controlling body of the UK.

The US is a democratic republic.

Answer 5

While both make laws, the British Parliament also controls the Executive Branch. The U.S. Congress works separately from the Executive Branch.

Answer 6

All of the members of the U.S. Congress are directly elected by the people.

Answer 7

Britain doesn't have a written constitution.

Answer 8

The British constitution is unwritten.

Answer 9

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