The constitutions of the United Kingdom and the United States are similar in that they both have checks and balances. This is a result of the separation of powers (or lack of) that both systems have. In the United Kingdom the executive and legislative powers are merged. The Prime Minister heads the executive and his government proposes and passes legislation based on a majority of the Commons. There are also committees that monitor the government's performance and hold it accountable. In the United States, all three branches are completely separate and cannot interfere with each other's control area. The only exception is the Vice President, who serves as the President of the Senate and can pass a casting vote. In theory, the American President has much more power than the British Prime Minister - he/she is the commander-in-chief and has the power to issue executive orders that have the full force of law. However, due to the constitutional system of 'checks and balances', the power of the President of the United States is seriously limited and it will often be very difficult to get legislation through Congress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay By contrast, a British Prime Minister usually heads a government with a majority of seats in the House of Commons and the ability to pass almost any law they want and there aren't many checks and balances stopping them from do it. In the United States, as a result of the separation of powers, all legislation is introduced by a member of Congress, so even the signature legislation attributed to President Obama on healthcare reform was actually introduced by a member of Congress. In contrast, almost all legislation in Britain is introduced by the government with only a very limited number of bills - usually on social issues with minimal implications for public finances - introduced by individual Members of Parliament (they are called of private members). . This is due to the checks and balances that these constitutions have. In the UK, as there is no written constitution, there are statutes rather than official checks and balances as in the US. Analyze the amendment processes in the UK and US Constitutions (12) In the UK the amendment process is quite simple. The current government can simply repeal any current law or bill created by previous governments and create any new law or bill provided it gets a majority of yes votes in the House of Commons, which it will do if it has a majority government . The amendment process to create a new bill is this; first you simply read the title of the bill. This is called the first reading and no debate takes place. We vote on the fundamental principle of the bill. Then comes the second reading, where the basic principles of the bill are debated and voted on. Then there is the committee stage where detailed consideration of the bill takes place by a public law committee. Each clause of the bill is examined and a decision made. This is followed by the report stage, where MPs can consider further amendments to the bill after the committee stage. Finally there is the third reading in which the entire bill is voted on in its final entity. If the bill has started in the House of Commons, it will then go to the House of Lords for its first reading and then the same procedure will occur. However, in the United States the procedure is completelydifferent. Article V (which talks about the amendment procedure) provides two methods for amending the United States Constitution. The first method authorizes Congress, ""whenever two-thirds of both Houses deem it necessary"" to propose constitutional amendments. If accepted, the proposed amendment is then sent to state legislatures for ratification. Three-quarters of state legislatures must approve the amendment for it to become part of the U.S. Constitution. The second method requires Congress, ""at the request of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states"", to ""call a convention to propose amendments."" Whenever the amendment process has been initiated since 1789, the first method. All 33 amendments presented to the states for ratification originated in Congress. The second method has yet to be used successfully. The structural differences between the US and UK Constitutions are that the constitutions are completely different in how amendments are made. This is due to cultural differences at the time as the United States feared that a tyrannical government would be able to create undemocratic laws, so to prevent this from happening they made the amendment process very difficult, which is why there were only 27 amendments to the United States Constitution. since its creation. Assessing the Scope of Federalism in the United States Today (30) It can be said that the United States is no longer a federal system. This is because, although it is stated in the Constitution, states still do not have enough freedom and powers of their own. An example of this is that income tax is collected by both the federal government and some state governments while it should be collected only by the state governments and then a portion should be given to the central government. Furthermore, federalism in the United States has declined due to the fact that when crises such as wars or terrorist attacks (9/11) occur, the central government appropriates more power. The problems that caused the crisis tend to be too big for individual states to solve alone, so the central government takes on more power to solve them. However, it can also be said that the United States is still a federal system. The federal system in the United States is guaranteed by the codified Constitution, which defines the powers that belong to the central government and those that belong to the states. For example, the Constitution guarantees states the right to fair representation in the Senate, jurisdictional integrity, the right to a republican form of government, and protection from invasion and internal conflict, while granting the central government power to “lay and collect taxes, to pay debts, to provide for the common defense and general welfare.” The fundamental principle of multilevel government where power is exercised jointly remains enshrined in law through the Constitution. Relations between national and state governments are governed by this legal framework, which cannot be changed except through the complicated process of constitutional amendment. This is one of the reasons why federalism is still very much alive in the United States today. The Tenth Amendment states that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" which means that any power not expressly stated in the Constitution is given to the states, not to the central government. Another reason why it can be said that the United States is still a federal system is that the states still have a lot of power. Three-quarters of the states still need to pass an amendment for it to be ratified, which.