The political systems of several major Western countries,

As far as political systems are concerned, all Western countries implement parliamentary democracy, multi-party system and separation of powers. However, different countries have their own characteristics in terms of specific organizational methods. The most representative ones are the presidential system model of the United States, the parliamentary cabinet system model of the United Kingdom and Germany, and the semi-presidential system model of France.

1. Basic characteristics of the American political system model

The American political system is a presidential country. In its early power structure, there were no political party factors. Later in the political competition, political parties continued to play an increasingly important role. Its main characteristics are:

1. Presidential candidates are recommended by political parties, and the president is elected directly or indirectly by all voters nationwide. The elected president does not necessarily mean the one who gets the absolute majority of votes, but the one who gets the most votes. Whichever presidential candidate gets more electoral votes will be elected president of the United States as long as he gets 270 electoral votes. The party to which the elected president belongs is the "ruling party" and comes to power to form a cabinet to exercise executive power. The president is also the head of the executive, has direct control over the executive branch, and is the commander-in-chief.

2. The political party system in the United States is quite loose. The significance of the existence of political parties is more as a tool for various elections. After the election, the role of political parties as an organizational system is quite weak, so it is a typical "Electoral Party". The United States is a typical two-party system, but it is different from the two-party system in Western European countries. It is not divided by ideology, but by region and interest group. Both parties are essentially parties representing different bourgeois interests. . In the U.S. power system, most of the power from the federal to local levels of government is controlled by people from both parties. The third party has never posed a real threat to the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party in a real sense.

3. Members of the U.S. Congress, namely the House of Representatives and the Senate, are generally recommended by political parties for election, are directly elected by popular vote, and have legislative power. Except for a few elected members who are third parties and independents, most members are elected by the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party and form their respective caucuses. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is appointed by a senior member of the majority party, while the Speaker of the Senate is concurrently served by the Vice President, and there is also a temporary Speaker. Unlike Western European countries, even if it obtains a majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is not necessarily the ruling party. Only the party of the president is the ruling party. In the middle of a presidential term, there are midterm elections, which mainly involve the re-election of some senators and the re-election of all the House of Representatives.

4. Although the president of the United States is nominally the leader of his party, after being elected, he appears more as a "president of the people", with his party background and traces downplayed. No American president is comprehensive. Having led a party, he struggled to control Congress, state and local officeholders through the party organization. The President of the United States is not elected by Congress and is not accountable to Congress.

5. The advantages of this political system model are: the president of the United States has greater power, is less constrained by political parties, and is more independent, which is conducive to making political decisions quickly and improving governance efficiency. Its weakness is that the three major power systems in the United States have obvious mutual constraints and constraints, causing some system consumption. The president has no power to dissolve Congress, but he can veto bills passed by Congress, and Congress can impeach the president; the president can appoint the highest judge, and the Supreme Court can rule on the laws of Congress and the president and decide whether they are unconstitutional.

2. Basic characteristics of political system models such as the United Kingdom and Germany

Party politics and regime formation models in such countries are relatively common in the West, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Canada. , Italy, Japan and most developed countries in continental Western Europe. They are basically responsible cabinet systems and are typical parliamentary democracies. Their basic characteristics are:

1. The main way for political parties to gain power is to win parliamentary elections, that is, to win the House of Commons. A majority of seats in the House of Representatives. Most parliamentary candidates are recommended by political parties or have political party backgrounds. Elections involving multiple parties are an important aspect of the so-called democratic system. Generally, a threshold vote of 3-5% is set and elections are based on a majority representation system. The system is more conducive for major parties to obtain a majority of seats. Generally, the party that obtains a relative majority in the House of Commons takes the lead in forming a cabinet, and the leader of that party serves as the head of government. However, there is also the phenomenon of a minority party in the parliament forming a government. This is especially likely when multiple parties enter the parliament and no party obtains a relative majority in the parliament.

2. The country’s power system is centered on the cabinet, which has the highest administrative power of the country. The cabinet is responsible to and subject to parliamentary constraints. The cabinet not only has executive power, but also has the power to propose legislation. The majority of the parliament controlled by the ruling party ensures the passage of legislation. The prime minister or prime minister has great power. He can not only select cabinet members and decide the country's major policies, but he can even dissolve parliament and announce early elections.

3. The president or king is more of an honorary position and has no real power. In this political system, kings are hereditary, and presidents are mostly elected indirectly, such as by votes from members of Congress. As the head of state, the president or king has more of a symbolic and ceremonial significance. He only intervenes in power mediation between political parties under special circumstances. He is usually relatively detached and does not assume specific responsibilities.

4. Most political parties have a relatively strict organizational system, but the right wing is looser than the left wing.

Whether a political party is a mass party or an elite party, most political parties have a top-down organizational system, and even a set of party peripheral organizations such as trade unions, youth, and women's organizations, which play a supporting role in the party's governance and can even assist the party in governing. The government has some restraints.

5. The advantage of this regime model is that both system formation and actual operation are relatively democratic and fair, and are more conducive to scientific and thorough decision-making. But the disadvantage is that the system or system is easy to become stereotyped, leading to bureaucracy and affecting the efficiency of governance.

3. Basic characteristics of the French political system model

Different from Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, France’s regime model is a “semi-presidential” model, which has both a presidential system and It also has the characteristics of a parliamentary system. Its main features are:

1. The presidential candidate is recommended by a political party or a coalition of political parties and elected directly by the people. The term of office is reduced from the original seven years to five years. Synchronized with the terms of parliament and government. As the head of state, the president has less power than the president of the United States, but it is far greater than the president or king of a cabinet system country. He is in charge of the country's foreign affairs and national defense powers, decides on various major policies including economic and social affairs, and actually controls the country's highest administrative power (but he is not the executive head, nor is he specifically responsible for economic and social affairs), presides over cabinet meetings, It enjoys the power to appoint government officials, dissolve parliament, declare early elections, and exercise extraordinary powers stipulated in Article 16 of the Constitution.

2. The government is composed of the political party that obtains a majority in the lower house, the National Assembly. The prime minister is also appointed by the leader of the party and is appointed by the president. The government’s main responsibility is to manage economic and internal affairs, and is responsible to the president and parliament. , Parliament can question and impeach the government.

3. France’s president and parliament generally implement a two-round voting system (if the president obtains more than 50% of the majority in the first round of elections, he does not need to vote a second time). The president, members of parliament They are all elected by candidates who obtain a relative majority in the second round of voting. If the president and the party that wins the majority in parliament are not the same party, the political phenomenon of "left-right governance" will occur, but the party in power in the government is generally regarded as the ruling party. In the past 20 years, this kind of "left-right political rule" has occurred several times in France.

4. The advantage of this political model is that power is relatively decentralized and is not likely to lead to tyranny and dictatorship. The president has certain real power, which is conducive to political stability. Its disadvantage is that the decentralization of administrative power makes the government authority weaker, which is not conducive to national management, and the phenomenon of "left-right governance" has led to power struggles among political parties, damaged the image of the political party, and is not conducive to the smooth solution of social problems. .