Contrasts between UK primeminister and US president.

Xin Rong

Xin Rong

Killed by Dissertation
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Hey, yes its me asking for help with homework again. SO anyway my current dilemna is that ineed to do a three minute presentation in front of a load of people who are like really, really into politics and i am so not which means i'm gonna have to work really hard just to not look like a dweeb. Therefore i need help and was wondering if anyone knew where i could find information regarding the differences between the UK PM and the US president.

BTW I am not talking about any paticular PM or Pres, more the roles of and such
 
Damn Google...not helping, ugh. I found this little tidbit:

1. In the USA, people vote for the person they want to be president. They do this by picking the members of an electoral college, that formally appoints him or her. In the UK, people vote for MPs who support a political party, the leader of the party with most MPs then becomes the prime minister.

That means the president can make decisions on their own because people have voted for them personally, whereas the prime minister is expected to discuss things with other ministers and MPs from their party.

2. The prime minister picks their cabinet from Members of Parliament. The president can pick anyone they like (as long as they are approved by the US Senate).

That means they can pack it full of people who will support their policies, giving them a lot more strength when making decisions.

3. The president is also the USA's head of state, in the UK that job is done by The Queen.
Click to expand...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/world/us_presidency/newsid_3717000/3717872.stm

Wikipedia's great, but there's so much crap to sift through. Here, you can check out distinctions between parliamentary constitutional monachies and presidential republics. There's a world map that breaks things down:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_of_government

A quick US/Canada comparison. Maybe that will just confuse things, lol.
http://www.nationalvoteforpm.ca/comparing leaders.htm
 
GB has pointed out the main constitutional differences above.

Looking at the current incumbents, a leader of the left-wing Labour party (Blair) and a right-wing Republican (Bush), the last lines from George Orwell's "Animal Farm" sprang to my mind -

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

...certainly insofar as foreign policy is concerned, the President and the Prime Minister are currently almost indistinguishable, which seems strange to me as they come from opposite sides of the political spectrum...perhaps the contrasts between them are becoming less sharp and the similarities more apparent as the UK comes more and more under the US's shadow.

BTW - I'm not calling either Bush or Blair a pig...it's a from an allegory (or possibly it's a metaphor - I'm a little rusty on my figures of speech🙂)
 
Yeah, they do seem so similar on foreign policy. I think Blair consistently made a more convincing case for the Iraq war"”to Americans"”than Bush did. Not that that's saying much. It's so painful listening to the Prez trying to articulate his positions...

I don't think Bush is as traditionally conservative as many would make him out to be. He's pushed lower taxes and is generally very pro-biz, but he infuriates almost as many conservatives as liberals in the States. He hasn't vetoed a spending bill, that I know of...A huge expansion of governmental power and spending. His stance on immigration pisses a lot of people off.

Seems like Bush morphed into an interventionist after 9/11. His rhetoric back in 2000 seemed very low-key, almost isolationist at times.
 
The President serves as Figure head, leader of the military and head of government.

the prime minister is only head of her majestys government. the military answers to parliment.

the main differents between the US and British government models. [i dont think they call ours a dictatorship anymore] is the British model has two bodies in a hiarachy.

the house of commons, a body of democratically elected representives from every town in the UK. can anyone tell me if theres also representives from british off shore colonies as well?

and the house of lords, which is the higher of the two, a body of unelected officals. who get the final say.

in america you have

The Presedency

The Congress

and The Senate.

all of which are elected bodies, and all supposedly have equal standing.

doing other peoples home work makes me feel dirty...
 
K
killerdwarf
That's cause you ARE dirty...;)
Faldor said:
The President serves as Figure head, leader of the military and head of government.

the prime minister is only head of her majestys government. the military answers to parliment.

the main differents between the US and British government models. [i dont think they call ours a dictatorship anymore] is the British model has two bodies in a hiarachy.

the house of commons, a body of democratically elected representives from every town in the UK. can anyone tell me if theres also representives from british off shore colonies as well?

and the house of lords, which is the higher of the two, a body of unelected officals. who get the final say.

in america you have

The Presedency

The Congress

and The Senate.

all of which are elected bodies, and all supposedly have equal standing.

doing other peoples home work makes me feel dirty...
Click to expand...


Don't worry am i doing work my self but everytime i always get some extra useful information that i otherwise wouldnt have had which is why i use these boards for homework... and i do acknowledge buffy boards in my bibliography if that makes u feel any better lol
 
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