Why American government does not work very well 2 views:

1
Why American government does not work very well
2 views

• politicians are corrupt, incompetent, or
  otherwise unwilling to exercise leadership

• the American system is designed to be inefficient
  and ineffective

2
Major Differences Between the AmericanSystem and
the Parliamentary Model

• American Parliamentary
• Separation of Powers Model
• chief executive President Prime Minister
• selection separate election legislative
  majority
• removal impeachment vote of confidence
• cabinet patronage coalition government
• structural designation federal unitary
• relationship/authority interdependence hierarch
  y
• pattern
• sovereign power Constitution House of Commons
• Other important differences
• orientation of elections personalities issues
• parties weak/competitive strong/competitive
• interest groups proliferate limited

3
British Parliamentary System
Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Monarchy
Cabinet serves at pleasure of Prime Minister
unless House of Commons is dissolved
Judges (Life term)
House of Commons Five Year Terms unless
dissolved by Prime Minister
Majority Party
House of Lords (Life term/Little Power)
Voters
Minority Party
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American System of Separation of Powers
nominates
confirms
Congress
Judges (Life term)
President (4-year term)
House of Representatives 2-Year Terms
Senate 6-Year Terms
Electoral College
Voters
5
How Israel Forms Its Government modified from
the Dallas Morning News
Here is how the Israelis elect their 120-seat
Knesset and how a government is formed The vote
Israelis vote for a party, not individual
candidates. The leader of each party is, in
effect, a candidate for prime minister, although
their names do not appear on the ballot. Voters
are aware that a vote for a particular party is,
in effect, a vote for that partys candidate for
prime minister. To be more accurate, voters are
casting their ballots for the party (and its
leader) that they want to take over control of
the government. Besides having a prime minister,
Israel also has a president who is elected by
Parliament and holds a largely ceremonial post.
Voters cast paper ballots. The minimum voting
age is 18. About 3.5 million Israelis are
eligible to vote, with about 11 being
Arabs. Division of seats in the Knesset As many
as 28 parties may be running candidates on the
ballot, but usually fewer than one-half pass the
threshold of 1.5 of the vote needed to win a
seat in the parliament. The votes for parties
short of the minimum are subtracted, and the
remaining ballots are divided by 120. That
establishes the number of votes for each seat.
For example, if the amount was 21,000, a party
receiving 210,000 votes would gain 10 seats. Each
partys candidates are numbered from 1 to 120.
In our example, the party with 210,000 votes
would get its first 10 candidates into the
Knessett. How a government is formed No party
has ever won a majority of seats in the Knesset,
therefore, Israel has been governed by
coalitions. The party leader with the best
chances of putting together a government (usually
the party receiving the most votes) is assigned
the task by the president. A party leader may
have up to six weeks to form a coalition. If he
fails, the president may choose another partys
leader to form a government. To form a governing
coalition, the party leader must make deals
(concessions) with other party leaders in the
form of government ministerial posts or policy
issues. Learn more about the Israeli Knesset _at_
http//www.knesset.gov.il/index.html.