The Purpose of Elections in the Political Systems of Britain and America

The Purpose of Elections in the Political Systems of Britain and America

Elections are a means by which people exercise some degree of control

over their representatives. Ideally elections should provide the

opportunity for a peaceful succession and transfer of office. In fact,

in recent history, elections of one form or another have been the most

characteristic and widespread form of rotating and transferring

office. There has been tremendous variation amongst political systems

of what is considered to be an elective office and the form that it

should take.

Before we can begin to explore the differences or similarities in the

purpose of elections in Britain and the US we must first concentrate

on what the electorate in each country votes for. In the US the have a

federal system of government where the president is chosen by the

electorate to represent them and their interest in the executive, the

president and the vice-president are the only two politicians to be

elected by a national constituency. They campaign for two months,

starting after the Labor Day holiday in September but these campaigns

rarely make a difference to which candidate wins because most of the

electorate have already made up their minds and it is rare that a

candidate who is struggling in the polls to win an election based on

his/her campaign over those two months: "for the vast majority of

citizens in America, campaigns do not function so much to change minds

as to reinforce previous convictions."[1]

The US also hold elections for the House of Representatives and

Congress; the elections for Congress are aimed to provide the people

of the state or provinc...

... middle of paper ...

...ly concerned about vehicle emissions in urban areas and

hence would be more likely to vote for a party, president or

congressman who designed a manifesto policy before the elections to

try and tackle that problem. But in conclusion the purpose for

elections especially in Britain and America is not designed to pursue

the individuals needs or desires but the status quo, how the

electorate collectively wish their country to be run but in turn not

forgetting how the electorate with their country to be run on a local

level. In the political systems of Britain and America, they both

cater for this.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Polsby and Wildavsky, 1995, p.162

[2] http://www.explore.parliament.uk/teachers/pdfs/es01.pdf

(Parliament Explained 1 - Parliamentary Elections)