Border wall crisis in USA and Brexit crisis in UK democratic governments, one following Presidential system and another a Parliamentary system, highlight differences in these systems

Last updated on 13th Jan. 2019

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_system:

"A parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance of a state where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the confidence of the legislature, typically a parliament, and is also held accountable to that parliament. In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a person distinct from the head of government. This is in contrast to a presidential system, where the head of state often is also the head of government and, most importantly, the executive does not derive its democratic legitimacy from the legislature."

My understanding is that UK is a parliamentary system as its executive head, the Prime Minister, and his/her cabinet, derives legitimacy from the confidence they command of the legislature (the House of Commons being the vital part of the legislature in this regard). The head of state is the constitutional monarch (as against absolute monarch) of the UK and is distinct from the Prime minister.

India too is a parliamentary system with its head of state, the President, being distinct from the executive head which is the Prime Minister, who along with his cabinet, derives legitimacy from the support he/she has from the legislature (Lok Sabha - Hindi/Sanskrit word meaning House of the People - being the vital part of the legislature in this regard).

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_system: "A presidential system is a democratic and republican system of government where a head of government leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. This head of government is in most cases also the head of state, which is called president."

My understanding is that USA is a presidential system with its president and his (maybe her in the future sometime :-)) cabinet being separate from the legislative branch (US Congress). The US president is both executive head and the head of state.

Now both USA and UK are facing crises. USA is going through one of the longest government shutdowns (partial shutdown in reality as some sections of govt. do not get funding with workers either stopping work or working in anticipation of being paid in future) in its history due to a stalemate between the presidency and significant number of members of Congress over funding for a border wall on its southern border that its president wants to build. "Build that wall" was a catchy (among his supporters) and important slogan in his presidential campaign. Here's a recent article on the situation: Trump Storms Out of White House Meeting With Democrats on Shutdown, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/us/politics/government-shutdown-trump-senate.html, 9th Jan. 2019.

The US president's view is captured in this tweet of his: "Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a total waste of time. I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!", https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1083099784012091396, 9th Jan. 2019.

UK is going through a harrowing time on how to Brexit. A recent article on the situation: UK parliament inflicts fresh defeat on PM May over Brexit, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/uk-parliament-inflicts-fresh-defeat-pm-brexit-190109154253342.html, 9th Jan. 2019. The report says that MPs in the House of Commons voted 308 to 297 backing a motion that if the govt. loses the vote on Jan. 15th on its Brexit deal, the govt. should put up a revised plan within 3 days. As I have understood it, the MPs seem to want to avoid the No-deal scenario which is the default that would come into play in end March of this year, unless the British Parliament approves of a particular deal or seeks additional time in some way.

In both the above situations in USA and UK, the majority of a key house of the two houses of the legislature (House of Commons in UK and House of Representatives in USA), disagree with the views of the executive head (Prime Minister Theresa May of UK and President Trump of USA). This has led to gridlock.

In the UK case, if the Prime Minister loses the Jan. 15th Brexit vote by a big margin, the opposition may demand a fresh election! To force the issue, I think, the opposition leader has to call for a vote of no confidence and win it in the House of Commons. In such a scenario, fresh elections will be called and the newly elected government will have to deal with Brexit. If that happens then Brexit gridlock would have forced a new mandate from the people.

In the USA case, there is no question of fresh elections. The President's term goes on till Jan. of 2021 with Presidential elections in end 2020. The House of Representatives too has a term till Jan. 2021 with elections in end 2020 (along with Presidential election). So there is no question of Border wall issue resulting in a new mandate from the people (elections) in the USA.

The President of USA has suggested that he might use some emergency powers to get funding for the border wall. But the opposition has indicated that if he does that they will challenge it in US courts! If so, then it will be the US court of law that will decide whether the President of US can get funding in this manner for his border wall, circumventing US Congress (including the Democratic Party controlled House of Representatives).

If the US President goes not go the emergency powers route, then he may have no option but to reopen US government (or rather rollback the partial government shutdown), without getting money for the border wall he wants to construct on US southern border. If I recall correctly, he has said that the shutdown could go on even for years! But I doubt if he will be able to do that.

As per my understanding of USA democratic government processes (which could have some mistakes), what the US President needs to easily get funding for US southern border wall is a Republican party (his party) controlled House of Representatives (which he had in 2017 and 2018) and 60 Republican senators in 100 member US Senate (which he DID NOT have in 2017 and 2018, and does NOT have even now). Where USA Congress gets powerful leverage over the USA President is in providing funding to USA government and in enacting new laws or striking down existing laws. The President cannot do these things on his own!

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA and UK politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA and UK elections.

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Report on UK parliament's Brexit struggle: Has Parliament taken back control of Brexit after PM loses rebel amendment?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRs02WEcrVs, around 21 mins, published by Channel 4 News on 9th Jan. 2019

Just an aside: Was interesting to listen to the English language and speaking style of UK Justice minister Rory Stewart who spoke calmly and smilingly even when he was pushed aggressively by the interviewer. I like such kind of guys :-). Quite rare in the political world nowadays I think. Aggressive pushback and fiery speech is the norm nowadays in the political world with the style sometimes clouding the substance.

[I thank wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]