| United Kingdom 🇬🇧 | United States of America 🇺🇸 | |
|---|---|---|
| Government Type | Constitutional monarchy. | Constitution based federal republic. |
| Capital City | London | Washington D.C. |
| Administrative Divisions | 48 ceremonial counties | 50 states |
| Executive branch | Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister. | Cabinet appointed by the president with senate approval |
| Head of government | Former PM: David Cameron. PM: Boris Johnson. | Former president: Donald Trump Current president: Joe Biden |
| Chief/head of State | Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II. | Former president: Donald Trump Current president: Joe Biden |
| Role of head of state | Ceremonial. | executive |
| Executive legitimacy | Ministry is subject to parliamentary confidence. | Presidency is independent of the legislature |
| Legislative branch | Bicameral parliament: The Crown, House of Commons, and House of Lords. | Bicameral congress: Senate and House of Representatives |
| Party system | Multi-Party system. | Two-party system |
| Judicial branch | Supreme Court of the UK Senior Courts of England and Wales (comprising the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the Crown Courts) Court of Judicature (Northern Ireland) Scotland’s Court of Session and High Court of the Justiciary | Supreme Court, Nine justices nominated by the president and confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate. They are appointed to serve for life. United States Courts of Appeal United States District Courts State and County Courts |
| Legal system | Common law system, Has non binding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998. | Common law system based on English common law at the federal level. State legal systems based on common law except Louisiana, which is based on Napoleonic civil code |
Political divisions of UK and the United States
Prime Minister of UK and President of the United States
Rishi Sunak 🇬🇧 and Joe Biden 🇺🇸.
Head of state of the UK and the United States
King Charles III is head of State of both Canada 🇨🇦 and the UK 🇬🇧. Although he does not make important decisions himself, he is consulted for approval when decisions are going to be made.
In the US 🇺🇸 the president has the role of both head of government and head of state.
Political compass of political parties in Canada and the United States
The number of political parties in a government can show how power is distributed: if it is either concentrated or dispersed. Is important to have in mind that the number of political parties does not say accurately how strong a democracy is. Also, this political compass shows the current parties in the Congress/Parliament.
Since the US only counts with two parties: Democrats and Republicans, a political compass cannot be too useful. Instead, there is a visualisation of their ideologies. Democrats can be seen as the liberals and the Republicans can be seen as the conservatives.
UK (left) & US (right)
