ESSAY on Australia vs United States: A comparative analysis of two Federal Systems

With the help of this paper, a comparative analysis of two federal systems will be done, highlighting the similarities and differences, the Australian political system has with the system of United States. However, in order to proceed to the main debate, a brief introduction about “what actually a federation is” is very important. Though there are many different definitions of a federation available in the history, but one common feature among all the definitions is the division of political power of a state between two or more governments. Where Unitary form of government exercises, the pattern of one single political power, a federation divides the power usually between the federal government and the regional governments, ensuring the fact that there is no case of power misuse (which is more likely to happen in unitary or single person leadership). A federation creates a system of checks and balances, making the political processes more transparent (Obinger, Leibfried & Castles 2005, p.11). Decision making about the constitutional amendments, policy regulations and other important matters of a state is not dependent on a single government under a federation, but requires the consent of a specific number of people from different units (legislative, government, constituent etc.). So, for a short and quick description of how a federation works, it can be stressed that the important decision making and policy regulation is not centralized under this kind of process, making the system rely on a combination of authorities. These authorities work collaboratively and also independently at the same time, making the system run. The best thing about this kind of political system is that the chances of dictatorship or power misuse drops down, since the divided authority keeps a check on the other important institutions of the government (Gagnon, Keil & Mueler 2016, p.12).

So, since a general idea of what federalism becomes clear after the introductory part of this essay, it will now be easy to analyze the federal systems of Australia and United States. Both of these states reflect the traits of indirect democracy and the division of power but have a number of differences in practice (Obinger, Leibfried & Castles 2005, p.11).

The aim of this essay is to find out the similarities or differences between the two. Furthermore, since there are debates about US influence over Australian federation, this paper will provide a platform to describe, analyze and debate about the query that if the Australian federation is actually under United States federal system influence? Or is it just a false argument to make.

Before coming to the main argument, a comparative analysis of both the systems is necessary, in order to see how much influence Australian federation has taken from the United States federal system. The reason of this argument is because history reflects that the idea of such a political system in Australia has been taken from United States and Britain. This is the reason Australian federal parliament is also known as the “Wash-minster Model”, indicating the amalgamation of American and British “Washington” and “Westminster” Models respectively (Australian Politics 2017).

If we give a general overall look at both the systems, there is presence of parliament, constituted of two houses. Australia has been inspired by the British parliamentary system, setting up a system relied on the Prime Minister, (which is the head of government) and the Governor General of Australia (which is the Queen and also the head of the state (Australia.gov.au n.d.). If we compare it with the federal system of United States, it follows a republic pattern of politics, having three branches of government viz. Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. The division of power under the US system is between the President, Congress and the federal courts (Obinger, Leibfried & Castles 2005, p.145).

In order to accept or deny the argument made above in the introductory section of the essay, a brief overview of the distribution of power in both the states is very important, because without that the similarities and differences between them cannot be analyzed. The reason why distribution of power is so important to describe is, because federation is all about how the authority is divided. Where the unitary form of government follows a center concentrated authority phenomenon, a federal system divides it between the center and the state governments via different ways. Under the cases we are discussing, the division of power is not only confined to the center and the state only but also within the federal system to create a more balanced system of checks over the other governing authorities (Bin 2011, p.2).

Starting from the system of United States, the executive branch of US is responsible for carrying out laws and is in authority for its enforcement as well. The composition of the executive branch includes a President, Vice President and cabinet.   The President of the United states is fulfilling the duty of both the head of government and the head of the state, making it very different from the Australian federation system. Where the President of United States is appointed as the result of confidential indirect election via electoral college, indicating the choice of the people. However, the power to confirm or reject the president lies with the Legislative branch, known as Congress, comprised of a Senate and the house of Representatives, which also enjoys the power to wage a war if needed. The judicial branch of US includes in it a Supreme Court and some other Federal Courts, having judges appointed by the Senate and the President. The power of judicial review under this branch of government, makes it a powerful one, though this power is not in the constitution but is proposed under many constitution’s Framers making it part of the judicial power quite strongly (USA.gov 2017).

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