Political Parties in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Comparison Term Paper by Julian
Compares and contrasts the American and the British political systems.
# 151861
| 1,900 words
| 3 sources
| APA
| 2012
| 
Published
on Oct 18, 2012
in
International Relations
(General)
, Political Science
(General)
, European Studies
(General)
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Description:
This paper compares and contrasts two political systems, the American and the British, taking into account historical development, the national political landscape and current trends. First, the paper considers the role of political parties in the American system of government. It also discusses how candidates outside of the Democratic of Republican parties are essentially unable to successfully win elections. Next, the paper compares the British system to the American one. This is followed by a description of how the Americans parties differ so vastly from one another on just about all issues, as compared to the British. Next, the paper explains the difference in Britain in which nearly all political power in the hands of just one party, the one that won the election. The paper concludes by stating that American and British parties have a great deal in common, however the systems of government also differ from one another in significant way.
From the Paper:
"Several factors conspire to make it extremely difficult for anyone outside one of the two major parties to get elected at the national level. Firstly, the US is a large country and political marketing is expensive - in other words, politics is foremost about money - without a network capable or raising hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in donations, a presidential candidate doesn't have the slimmest chance. It is obviously very difficult to create and sustain such a network, involving tens of thousands of people, in normal times, (which means in the absence of a hugely galvanizing issue); last time a viable national party was created it was in response to slavery, in the 1850s. It would seem that only major catastrophes have the potential of shaking up the American political scene to the extent that a new national party emerges. Second of all, the American election system - "first past the post", or single-member-district plurality vote - is unfriendly to minor candidates. Other countries have proportional voting systems, where parties are represented in their national assemblies by the same percent of legislators as the percent of votes they received in the national election; that is, if a party in, say, Italy, receives 5% of the vote, then it will also have 5% of the representatives in parliament."Sample of Sources Used:
- Jones, B., D. Kavanagh, M. Moran and P. Norton. 2010. Politics UK (7th edition). Harlow: Longman.
- Lowi, T. and others. 2009. American Government: Power and Purpose (11th Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
- Lucie-Smith, Alexander. "My scripture suggestions for Cameron, Clegg and Miliband." The Catholic Herald. 4 August 2011. Web.
Cite this Term Paper:
APA Format
Political Parties in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Comparison (2012, October 18)
Retrieved May 28, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/term-paper/political-parties-in-the-united-states-and-the-united-kingdom-a-qualitative-comparison-151861/
MLA Format
"Political Parties in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Comparison" 18 October 2012.
Web. 28 May. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/term-paper/political-parties-in-the-united-states-and-the-united-kingdom-a-qualitative-comparison-151861/>