Comparative Politics

Comparative Politics

Introduction

Thesis

The primary role of the legislative system is to enact and pass laws according to the needs of the public, among other functions as dictated by the constitution of each country. However, a detailed analysis of the legislation of two states, such as the USA and UK, reveals that there are similarities as well as differences in the legislative systems.

Body paragraph 1

Topic sentences: Both the UK and the US have bicameral parliament; the law enactment process passes through the two houses

Detail 1: In England, a bill has to be passed by both the House of Lords and the house of commons before it is sent for the queen assent (Benouazghar,2017).

Detail 2: Similarly, in the US, the bicameral parliament consists of the house of representatives and Senate. The two-house combined are referred to as the Congress and are mandated to legislate according to the stipulations of the constitution (Benouazghar,2017).

Body Paragraph 2

Topic Sentence: The legislation process involves the introduction of a bill to the two houses for discussion. For the bill to become an enactment, it requires the approval of the two houses before it is assigned into law (Benouazghar,2017).

Detail 1: In the US, the bill is first introduced to Congress, which is a combination of the Senate and the house of representatives for debating (Benouazghar,2017). In the end, the bill is either passed through voting by the two houses or declined based on the reasons identified by the majority of the Congress.

Detail 2: In the UK, a bill is introduced to both the House of Lords and House of the commons for discussion (Benouazghar,2017). The entire process of legislation ends in voting by the two houses to approve the bill which, if passed, is signed into law by the head of state, which in this case is the Queen.

Body Paragraph 3

Topic Sentence: The difference between the USA and UK legislative system is the head of state who signed a bill into law as the final process of legislation (Caramani,2017).

Detail 1: In the USA, after the Congress has approved a bill through a voting process, it passes through the president for a presidential assent for it to become law.

Detail 2: In the UK, on the contrary, after the bicameral parliament has approved a bill, it is passed through the Queen as the head of state for assent before it becomes the law of the land (Caramani,2017). In other words, even though the Queen is regarded as a ceremonial head of state in England, her powers come into significance in the final stage of a bill becoming a law.

Conclusion

As demonstrated by a review of the legislative systems of the UK and the USA, even though there is uniqueness in the framework of legislation in every country, a detailed analysis would reveal both the similarities and differences.

References

Benouazghar, K. (2017). Political System of the United Kingdom vs. the United States (2010-2015).

Caramani, D. (Ed.). (2017). Comparative politics. Oxford University Press.