MSG Team's other articles

12544 Bureau and Boards/Commissions Systems in Departments

We are at the next level of understanding departments within the organizations. In the earlier article we understood about the line staff and auxiliary agencies and the organization of business in departments based on the four principles of finance, process, clientele and geography. This article shall look at the distribution of authority within the department. […]

11517 Technological Advances in the Insurance Industry

The Fintech revolution has startled many industries. Insurance is one of the industries that have been affected. A large percentage of insurance executives believe that they use outdated technology as a part of their day to day operations. Hence, they are also of the opinion that the insurance industry is prone to attacks and disruptive […]

10658 Political Revolutions

The Nature of Political Revolutions An often-overlooked aspect of the modern political economy is the capacity for change and renewal that is inherent in the way modern democracies work. Despite reversals of democracy where world over we are witnessing the retreat of democracy, there have been notable exceptions to the norm wherein some social and […]

9553 Appointing Home Grown Leaders to the Top Posts versus Bringing in Leaders from Outside

One of the thorny issues facing senior management in many organizations is the debate over grooming leaders from within and then appointing them to the top posts versus brining in leaders from outside and then making them the CEO. The debate is not confined to a particular country and occupies the energies of corporate leaders […]

12088 How Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence Can Help Managers Succeed

The Emotionally Intelligent Manager The emotionally intelligent manager is one who has an inner rudder, defers gratification, and is empathic towards his or her coworkers. An emotionally intelligent manager creates a working environment that is as much driven by performance as it is by greater cooperation and greater sensitiveness towards each other. In other words, […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Different Political Systems around the World

There are many different types of political systems around the world. Whereas the political system in the United States follows a mixture of direct and indirect election, the UK with its Westminster style of democracy is another type of political system. Most of the former colonial countries follow the UK model including India and many countries in Asia whereas the African countries follow the European model which is a mixture of the American and the British model.

The American style of democracy is characterized by the devolution of powers between the Federal Government and the State Governments.

The President of the United States is elected directly by the Electoral College though the division of electoral votes follows a pattern that is unique in the world. For instance, the American President takes all the electoral votes in a particular state if he or she wins the majority of the votes cast. To take an example, California has 52 Electoral Votes and whoever is the winner in the state (who secures the most votes) has 52 votes in his or her kitty. There is no division of seats as is done in the UK and India where each state or district has constituencies and hence, the election is determined constituency wise.

The American Political System and the British Model

The American political system is also notable because each state has Two Senators irrespective of its size and population whereas each state has congressional representatives based on its size and population. This distinction is crucial because a smaller state like Wyoming sends two senators whereas it has less than 10 congressional seats.

The states follow their own patterns of democracy with each state having a legislature and a governor who is directly elected. As mentioned earlier, the American political system is unique in the world because of these characteristics. On the other hand, the Westminster model of democracy is based on proportional representation as well as the first past the post principle. For instance, in the UK and in India, the constituency winner is the person who secures more votes than the nearest opponent does and hence, there is no concept of absolute majority in each constituency. Further, these seats are for the lower house, which is the House of Commons in the UK and the Lok Sabha in India. The members of the upper house are elected indirectly and the Rajya Sabha (in India) and the House of Lords in the UK are the upper houses of parliament.

The European Model

In contrast, the European system of democracy is different with many countries in Europe having a president who is elected directly or nominated and the members of parliament who are elected according to the Westminster model.

The point here is that in the UK, the Queen (or the King) is the ceremonial head of government and in India; the President is the ceremonial head of government. The president in some European countries and in India is elected indirectly whereas in other European countries, both the president and the members of parliament are elected directly.

Closing Thoughts: Reasons for Variety of Political Systems

The reason for the variety and the different kinds of political systems around the world is mainly that the evolution of democracy around the world has been a process that has been influenced by the political systems of the US and the UK. Since they were among the first countries to have established procedures for elections and democracy, once the other countries became independent after the Second World War and became democratic following the Westphalian model of sovereign states in the 19th century, they chose to have political systems that had elements drawn from these two countries. Therefore, one finds variants of these models across the world in the kind of political systems that individual countries selected for themselves.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Concept of Property in Political Science

MSG Team

Are We Really Capitalists ?

MSG Team