Research Paper: Ecuador vs United States
Charles Baker
Professor Sa
GVPP 201
10 May 2015
The United States of America was founded on many principles that were based on
freedom. After the British crossed the Atlantic Ocean and founded thirteen colonies, tensions
rose that eventually led to a full on revolution. There were many tensions that caused the
revolution, taxation without representation being the most notorious. The increasing taxes levied
upon the colonists gave them the strength to rise up in rebellion. On July 4th, 1776, when the
Declaration of Independence was signed, certain rights were given: life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
In fact, these are the basic rights that mankind needs to follow in order to have a self-
governing body that represents the people; or in other words, a democracy. A democracy like the
one in the United States is considered a presidential system (Wilson, Dilulio, & Bose, 2014).
There are many countries around the globe that share a political system similar to ours. Some of
them are even based off the political system that we use.
A country in particular is that of the small country of Ecuador. The country of Ecuador
comes from a rich history of rebellion, similar to that of the United States (Swanson, 2003). It
started out as the northern most region of the Incan Empire, prior to Europeans coming to the
New World (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015a). After fighting a war of independence Ecuador,
Colombia, and Venezuela formed together to create a federation named Gran Colombia (Central
Intelligence Agency, 2015a). In 1830, Quito (the current capital of Ecuador) withdrew from Gran
Colombia and formed a new country named the “Republic of the Equator” (Ecuador is Spanish
for equator) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015a).
The way that the United States government and Ecuador’s government is set up is similar.
They both have three branches of government: executive, legislation, and judicial. In fact, both
of these countries share similar histories: war of independence that led to the birth of a new
country. Also, since the United States and Ecuador both fall in the Western Hemisphere, the
United States has control over it. This comes from the Monroe Doctrine that dictates that no
European powers are able to conduct business or colonize the newly-formed countries in Latin
America. With this being said, is it possible that perhaps the government and constitution of
Ecuador is based off the ones of the United States?
In the United States, the President is the head of the executive branch. The power of the
executive branch is to carry out the laws that are made by the legislative branch. However,
compared to other democratic systems with a president, the United States President is considered
one of the weakest (Wilson et al., 2014). Because the President has checks and balances, its
appointments to office, vetoes, budgets, and treaties have to be approved by Congress (Wilson et
al., 2014). Another sign of the checks and balances is that the President’s cabinet positions have
to be approved by the Senate (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015b).
The President of the United States is voted by an electoral college, which dictates that in
order for the president to win the election, he/she must obtain 270 out of the 538 votes to win
(Wilson et al., 2014). The number of Electoral College votes is determined by the population of
the state from which it comes from (i.e. states like California and Florida carry more weight
because they have a higher population than a state like Montana or South Dakota).
The Electoral College votes are determined by the popular vote of the candidate in each
individual state (with the exception of Maine and Nebraska). This means that the candidate can
win the Presidency without capturing the majority of the popular vote (Wilson et al., 2014).
The political parties that dominate the elections in the United States are the Democratic
Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, and Republican Party (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015b).
These are not all of the political parties present in the United States, but these are the major ones
that receive a good chunk of the votes. The current political party in the White House belongs to
the Democratic Party with President Barack Obama (Sutcliffe, 2010). Throughout history, the
Democrats and the Republicans have held on to the Presidency, since the end of the Federalists
in the early nineteenth century (Wagner, 2007).
The latest results from the most recent election showed that Barack Obama received 332
electoral votes, compared to Mitt Romney’s 206 (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015b). Obama
received 50.6% of the popular vote, while Romney received 47.9% of the popular vote, with the
other 1.5% going to other candidates (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015b).
The government of Ecuador since its induction, has gone through instability and
troubling times (Crowder, 2009). What has remained constant is the location of the capital and
government buildings. These are all located in the capital city of Quito, in the Andes Mountains
