Comparing the Us and Uk executives Flashcards
Structural Comparison for the separation of powers
The USA has separation of powers, compared to the Uk’s fusion of powers
This means the PM stays a Mp whereas in the US the president will have to quit their other political job to be president. Obama was the Illinois senator before.
This means that in the Uk the pm can make Mps into cabinet to help with the whipping system. In the US because of the separation they cannot do a simple promotion.
The structural comparison for the executives power
The president is chief executive and him or the vice are guaranteed to be in charge for a minimum of 4 years, whereas in the Uk if there’s a confidence vote the entire government can be replaced.
In the us they pull power from the constitution, as this is codified this gives them less power to do what they want as per with judicial review calling things unconstitutional. Trump travel ban 2017. Whereas in the UK they pull power from the Royal prerogative which means that the Pm can basically do anything they want as they have the power from the monarchy.
Presidents are hard to get rid off with no president ever “Officially” Getting impeached but Nixon resigned right before his impeachment trial as he knew what would of happened. In The UK if a majority of the party in charge put in no confidence letters they will run a vote of no confidence in the leader and works the same for the Government. This happened to theresa May with her surviving 2 votes but then resigning afterword’s.
Structural Comparison in bodies supporting the president.
In the uk the PM is part of a plural executive with them being primes pares with the cabinet whereas in the USA the president has a lot more power over the cabinet with them not needing to actually listen to them.
When Pm’s like Blair don’t include cabinet on problems like his “Sofa Cabinet” They get into a lot of heat, this is as the PM is first among equals. In the US it is a normal thing to not listen to cabinet with Obama’s cabinet meeting’s being on average 3.5 times a year.
In the Uk the PM’s Cabinet ministers normally are challenges for the Job so they have to be careful. In Blair’s Cabinet Brown was not fired as he was liked by the public, he then took blairs job in 2007. In the US this happens once in a blue moon with Jefferson being the Last cabinet minister to become the president.
rational comparison of self-interest
Both the pm and the president will both push forward the legislation that they want, from their manifesto and that they want to seek re-elections.
Obama in 2012 tried to push through gun control laws that were in his manifesto, Johnson pushed Brexit a lot and was his main point in winning the general
Rational comparison of when to push through legislation and laws
The PM will push through all the legislation they want people to forget about at the start of their terms whereas the president will push laws through before they seek re-election.
Liz Truss put through her mini-budget right after she was elected, this didn’t work though as was the reason she had to resign. The same with Obama when he tried to push through obama care at the ending of his term.
Rational comparison of appointments
Appointments are done again in self-interest for the president whereas in the uk it is harder.
Trump was able to appoint 3 supreme court judges that all shared his political view and were all anti - abortion. Blair was forced to appoint blair as chancellor as he was very popular in the party and eventually took blairs job.
Rational comparison with partys
Both president and PM are heads of their political party and therefore have to follow party policy.
Rational comparison of the legislatures
In the Uk the PM is in the legislature and therefore can pretty easily get their legislation through. In the US the President has to deal with congress which are not part of the president and therefore is under no control.
If the uk has a majority in the HOC then they can easily get policy through, with 29 acts passed in 2020. Whereas in the US the houses can be bi - partisan and therefore force gridlock with no Private laws being passed in 2020 and 44% of the laws being passed in the final 2 months.
Rational comparison of 2 houses
In the US there are 2 houses whereas in the uk there is only 1 as the lords is so poor.
The lords has less power due to the 1911 and 1949 parliament acts with them not allowing vetos but only delaying bills. The us has to compete with 2 houses as they both have a lot of power, this makes amendments hard with 2/3 of congress needing to agree.
