Governments and Philosophies - GED Social Studies

In the British government, the lawmaking body is called Parliament, or the Houses of Parliament. It is made up of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with the House of Commons directing most of the legislative action.

Britain is governed by a parliamentary system. There is a legislative body, called the Houses of Parliament, where the leader of the majority party, or of the largest coalition, is Prime Minister. This is different to the American system where votes for the legislature and executive are not directly tied to one another.

One of the primary advantages of a two-party system, as compared to a multi-party system, is that if there are only two parties competing for power, they must try to attract as much of the electorate as possible. This generally causes both parties to be extremely moderate in their political leanings. It is not possible to have a coalition government in a two-party system. In a coalition government, which occurs often in parliamentary systems (such as those in the United Kingdom or Germany), no one party gains an absolute majority, so parties combine their votes together to form a coalition and more than one party rules. This has the advantage of allowing disparate and varied political opinions to work together.

One of the primary differences between a presidential democracy (like the governments of the United States and France) and a parliamentary democracy (like the governments of Germany and the United Kingdom) is that in a parliamentary democracy, the people do not directly elect the Prime Minister; instead, they vote for a representative of a political party in the legislature, and the majority party in the legislature chooses a Prime Minister. In modern times, it is generally known before the election of the legislative branch the person each party would choose for their leader, so the difference is nominal in terms of the amount of power held by the people.

A system of government ruled by religious leaders and where law is established according to religious codes is called a theocracy.

Apartheid was a social policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. It was enforced by the government, which reduced the economic and political rights of black people in the country.

Communism is an economic system where all property and the means of production are owned by the state. One of the driving forces of capitalism, ownership of private property, is completely eliminated in favor of (in theory) fairly distributing all property and economic goods.

The United Nations is an international body designed to prevent warfare and represent the collective interests of all the nations of humanity, at least in theory. It was formed after the end of World War Two, in 1945. The League of Nations (the first attempt at such an international organization) was formed in 1918, at the end of World War One, but suffered from a lack of American participation and subsequent ineffectiveness.

The Italian state under Mussolini was a prominent examples of Fascism. In a fascist government, liberal democracy is rejected as being too weak, and a system of totalitarian control over the media and the population is instituted. Fascist philosophy believes that the technological advancements of the early twentieth century rendered the distinction between civilian and military combatant obsolete. In a fascist state, the civilian population is mobilized as part of the war effort and is under complete control of the government. Violent nationalism is an important part of fascist ideology.

The economic and political system of feudalism arose after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the political and military vacuum created by Rome’s fall from power, there was a large number of people and groups contending for power. It was a time of brutal violence and great instability. To try to create stability, various rulers began to offer portions of land, or “fiefdoms,” to lesser rules, who could then have serfs work the land to provide food and income. The system of feudalism was effective because it promoted stability in a very violent time and offered protection in exchange for loyalty and subservience.

A theocracy is a system of government ruled by a priest, or other religious figure, who claims to interpret the word of god when establishing laws and rules in the country. In a theocracy, the government is essentially a conduit for religious belief.

Despotism is another word for Autocracy. A Despot is an autocratic ruler, or a tyrant: someone who rules with absolute authority and who cannot be questioned or removed from power by legal means.

The English Bill of Rights was passed in 1689, following the accession of William and Mary after the Glorious Revolution, in which James II was ousted from power. For much of the seventeenth century, the English monarchy and parliament were at constant odds with one another, and after a Civil War resulted in parliamentary victory, the Kings of England would never have the same power again. The English Bill of Rights established limits on the powers of the monarchy and reserved powers for Parliament. It is considered a precursor to the American Bill of Rights and probably the most important document of the uncodified English Constitution.

John Locke believed in a social contract between rulers and ruled that heavily limits the power of the ruler and provides inalienable rights for the ruled. Although Locke, by modern standards was still somewhat conservative about human nature (he still favored monarchy over democracy) in his own time Locke was about as liberal as it was possible to be about human nature and political theory (without being considered dangerously insane). Hobbes, on the other hand, was a renowned pessimist about the human condition and an even more renowned royalist. Hobbes fled England during the Civil War, and upon his return published his most famous work, The Leviathan, which outlines Hobbes’ belief that life is nasty, brutish, and short, and that in a state of nature mankind would rip itself to shreds. A strong, absolute government was needed to enforce law and order. Together, their views helped shape generations of politicians’ viewpoints, but compared to one another they were chalk and cheese.

John Locke was an Enlightenment-Era philosopher. His writings were hugely influential to the Constitutional Framers of the United States. His liberal views on inalienable rights of all people to "life, liberty, and property" might make it seem like Locke would support direct democracy, or at least republicanism, but Locke was a man of his time as well. He believed that the best government was a constitutional monarchy, one where there is a king whose power is heavily limited by constitutional obligations to provide for the fair and just treatment of his citizens. Essentially, Locke believed that the king only held the power to rule if those ruled consented to it.

The Enlightenment philosopher John Locke was deeply influential to the founding fathers of the United States of America. His writings on the social contract and the responsibility of government to its citizens, found in the second of his two treatises, were impactful to the generation of Constitution Framers who established the government of the United States.

The President and both Houses of Congress are elected by a vote of the people. Supreme Court Justices, however, are appointed by Presidents. The appointment has to be approved by the Senate.

Perhaps despite the wishes of many Presidents who have battled oppositional Congresses, the President is not provided with any power to alter the membership of Congress by appointing or firing members, nor can the President call for new elections. The President also must abide by the laws that the Congress passes. Article I Section 7 of the US Constitution does, however, grant the President the power to refuse to sign a bill from Congress or to outright veto it. This power allows the President some power to oppose legislation they find unacceptable, but Congress can override a veto. Overriding a veto requires much higher support (2/3 "super-majority") within Congress for the bill.

In the American government power is separated into three branches. The Legislative Branch makes laws, the Executive Branch carries out and enforces laws, and the Judicial Branch interprets whether or not laws violate the Constitution.

The English Bill of Rights was passed in 1689, following the accession of William and Mary after the Glorious Revolution, in which James II was ousted from power. For much of the seventeenth century, the English monarchy and parliament were at constant odds with one another, and after a Civil War resulted in parliamentary victory, the Kings of England would never have the same power again. The English Bill of Rights established limits on the powers of the monarchy and reserved powers for Parliament. It is considered a precursor to the American Bill of Rights and probably the most important document of the uncodified English Constitution.