The most comparable and obvious concept about these three positions is that they are all the heads of state for government in each of their respective countries. A difference between these three is that the United States President is the only one of the three that is the sole head of state. In the United Kingdom you have the Queen who is the ceremonial head of state with very limited powers. In Germany there is a President that is supposed to be above politics and the face of the nation. The German President does have small governmental powers in which he or she must sign all legislation that is passed. Very rarely does a President in Germany not sign legislation if it already has the signature of the Chancellor and the Bundestag; this has only happened a handful of times in German history.
There are also main differences in the way that each of these three people reaches their respective positions of power. The United States President is the only one of the three that is directly elected by the people. The United States holds separate elections for its executive and this will have complications in legislation that will be discussed later. The British Prime Minister is not elected by the people, but appointed by being the person that is number one on the party list. Whichever party is elected to the majority in The House of Commons takes the top person from their party and appoints them Prime Minister. This is slightly different from the German system which is also an appointed position. The Bundestag, or lower house in the German legislature, is responsible for appointing the Chancellor. This is normally done by coalition in German politics and is more of a give and take situation and not as concrete as the other two positions.
Another main difference between these three heads of states is their impact on legislation within their countries. The British Prime Minister has the most influence on legislation because the position is fused. By being fused, The British Prime Minister controls both the legislative and executive branches. Almost all of the Prime Minister’s legislation in Britain will be passed because he holds a majority in the House of Commons. The accountability in this position is that if you don’t like what a party the party in power is doing, the next election you will be able to vote the party and Prime Minister out of power. The British Prime Minister has the most power out of all three of these positions and their legislation passes about ninety nine percent of the time. The German Chancellor on the other hand gives broad outlines for legislation and it is written by the cabinet staff or heads of departments. This legislation is not always guaranteed to pass because it has to go through both houses and meet the standards of coalition within these houses. Legislation is still passed about eighty percent of the time in this system. The accountability for the Chancellor in power is the fact that if he or she can’t hold the coalition together they will lose their position in office. Because of this fact, there is a lot more compromise in German politics than in the British politics were there is virtually none. In the United States government there is a much stricter separation of powers between the legislative and executive branch. The President can outline his or her policy goals, but without a majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives there is no guarantee that the President will be able to get any of his policies done. This allows for much more of a blame game in United States politics and slower government because the legislature doesn’t have to listen to the President and the President can veto every piece of legislation that comes to his desk. You have a much better chance at deadlock in United States politics that is not seen in British or German politics.
These three positions, Chancellor, Prime Minister and President, have very few similarities besides being the heads of government and outlining broad legislation. There are many more differences in the way that they are elected, their legislative powers and accountability.
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