An Analysis Of Australia- America Political Systems & Austerica
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1 Introduction
Both the United States and Australia were once a British colony. However, this right pair of fellow sufferers had embarked on completely different paths of development two hundred years later: the United States had become the world pole, Australia had entered the ranks of developed countries, but in terms of the economic, financial and educational fields, there was a big gap between the two countries. I think that the choice of political system is crucial to the countrys development. The U.S.A and Australia chose the different political systems, so they took the different directions: the United States opted for a democratic republic that was advanced and made bold innovations, eventually the U.S.A. become a superpower. Australia followed the British monarchy that was relatively speaking more conservative than Republic, and along with the development of history, ultimately Australia widened the gap with the U.S.A.
This paper consists of three parts. The first part is a brief introduction on the polities of the two countries, including their respective forms of government, structures, the state organs of power, the organizations and activities of political parties and introduction of the electoral system. The second part analyzes the causes of two countries choosing their own political system. I think the nature of the two first settlers decided the choices of their respective political system. The first settlers in United States were mainly puritans who were bold and innovative, they wanted freedom and democracy. At the same time, they had the courage to resist imperial power, so they chose a political theory of Montesquieu–the separation of powers to suppress imperial power; finally they developed their own political system in line with the countrys practical situation. While the initial migration in Australia was mainly the British exiled offenders. In essence, these people were directly controlled by the British government, they had no independent thinking and still retained the British conservative concept. Subsequently, Australia had been a British colony over a century, so naturally it adopted the British monarchy. The third major part discuses the phenomenon of Americanization as well as the emerging reasons in Australia. I think there are three main reasons: first the British became weaker and weaker, it lost its influence and control in Australia; on the one hand, the United States had risen quickly and its influence in the world spread rapidly, so Australia was unavoidably influenced. On the other hand, Australians believed that they could become another United States, so they began to absorb and imitate various aspects of the United States. Taking the above reasons into consideration, the trend of Americanization in Australia is inevitable.
This paper will strive to solve the above points in detail, and articulate the issues in a unique way.
2 Definition of Political system
Political system refers to the organization and management of the state power and the activities of the countrys political system. First, it refers to the form of state power, including the form of government (such as constitutional monarchy, parliamentary republic, president republic and the republican system of the Commission), structure (such as a single system, federalism and confederation), and the principle of organization and activities of state power (such as the principle of separation of powers); Second, it also includes the system of other organizations and the political behavior linked to the national government (such as political parties, the electoral system). Modern Western political system is a typical form of bourgeois democracy. Since the mid-70s of the 20th Century, Bourgeois Democracy as a common political model prevailed in the major capitalist countries.
2.1 The political system in the United States
The United States is a republican state; the political system is republican president. “Separation of powers” is the principle of the American political system. State power is divided into legislative, executive and judicial powers, independent of each other, and also checks each other. Legislative power is vested with Congress, executive power is exercised by the President and judicial power shall be vested in the Supreme Court.
The United States is a federal system, namely the federal government and state governments share powers and responsibilities. Federal government is composed of three basic components — President, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Congress enacts a unified national constitution and the law, federal government enjoys foreign powers and the powers to maintain armed forces, to deal with interstate relations and trade, taxes, debt, mints, etc. President of the United States is Chief Executive Officer and the supreme commander of the armed forces, for a term of four years, with a maximum of more than two terms. Presidents duty is to carry out the law passed by Congress and to deal with the day-to-day affairs.
Congress is the highest legislative body that is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.① The House of Representatives comprises lawmakers who serve two-year terms. Each House member represents a district in his or her home state. The number of districts in a state is determined by a count of the population taken every 10 years. The most heavily populated states have more districts and, therefore, more representatives than the smaller states, some of which have only one. There are 435 representatives in the House of Representatives. The Senate comprises lawmakers who serve six-year terms. Each state, regardless of population, has two senators. The terms of the senators are staggered, so that only one-third of the Senate is elected every two years. That assures that there are some experienced senators in Congress after each election. ②The Supreme Court today consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. With minor exceptions, all its cases reach the Court on appeal from lower federal or state courts. The Courts most important function consists of determining whether congressional legislation or executive action violates the Constitution.
The United States currently has two major political parties- Republican Party and Democratic Party. Since two party system established in 185osin America, these two parties have been in power rotation through the presidential campaign. In addition, the United States has a number of other political parties, but they cannot affect the status of the two parties taking turns in power.
2.2 The political system