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Political Science Comparative Essay
Throughout our world there are numerous ways to go about governing and leadership. One
of the most predominate forms of government is a democracy, and the following of its goal
to go about things in a democratic manner. With a democracy it exercises direct and or
indirect methods through participation, competition, and liberty (In-class). Within the
democratic system there are two main routes to follow, either the parliamentary system or
the presidential system. In the following these two systems will be compared and
contrasted, and analyzed for their advantages and disadvantages as democratic systems.
While both the parliamentary system and the presidential system have their distinct
advantages, the organization and process in which the parliamentary system goes under
proves to be more democratic, because it recognizes the need for continuous change with
our ever growing world.
The distinct properties of the presidential democratic system involve the separation of
elections for the legislators and the executives within a state. Under the presidential system
“both parts of the governmental apparatus are responsible for the making and carrying out
the law" (Sively). In the presidential system the head of state/head of government, “the
president is directly elected by the public for a fixed term and has control over the cabinet
and the legislative process" (O’Neil 142). The idea behind combining the role of the head
of state, and the head of government is so that there is a “national symbol as well as the
overseer of policy" (O’Neil 143). The position is fully elected by the people and for the
people along with the legislation. Due to the fact that both the president and the legislature
are voted in, being the most popular candidates for the majority parties, it does not allow
fair game for those minority parties within the countries. Also along the lines of voting,
these selected individuals are voted in for a select amount of time, primarily four to seven
years. With this great separation of power it “is also more likely to lead to checks and
balances and divided government" (O’Neil 143). The most prime example of the
presidential system is the United States of America. Direct elections with liberty in mind,
competition for leadership positions and participation by the people, the presidential
system does represent democracy well.
On the other side of democracy we have the parliamentary system. In the parliamentary
system there is a parliament of representatives that are elected by the citizens of that state,
