2.  Authoritarian: a government in which one leader or group of people holds absolute power.  Absolute Monarchy: a monarch that has complete and unlimited power to rule his or her people.  Totalitarianism: a system in which government control extends to almost all aspects of people’s lives.  Constitutional Monarchy: the power of the hereditary ruler is limited by the countries constitution.

3.  The U.S. is one of the handful of countries in the world that has a president.  Most democratic countries in the world today follow the model of Great Britain.  They use a parliamentary system:

4.  Parliaments use a head of government that is called a prime minister.  Some prime ministers are called chancellors.  A major feature is that the top of the parliamentary system serves as both the executive and legislative branch.

5.  Prime minister is not only the chief executive, but also a member of parliament.  Chief executive carries out the laws, parliament creates them.  In contrast, the executive and legislative branches operate alone in the U.S.

6.  President is elected by the people, but the prime minister is elected by members of parliament.  In Great Britain, the head of state is not the prime minister, but the King or Queen.

7.  The power in a parliamentary system is not seperated between two branches, which removes checks and balances.  However, the unity among the legislative and executive branches does help the government run smoothly and act quickly.  In the U.S., congress can continue to reject the president’s plans, while the president can veto their actions. This leads to nothing getting done.  In a parliamentary system, the head of state is from the majority party which leads to more getting done.