Political Landscapes of the U.S., Saudia Arabia and Cuba

Worldwide political landscapes vary from country to country, but even the most extreme regimes have similarities and differences. The United States, Saudi Arabia and Cuba are countries with differing styles of government and central leadership.

The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788. The Constitution replaced the first government of the new Untied States, the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was signed in 1781, it's extremely weak central government led to its downfall (Miller & Thompson, 2006, p. 111). The national government consists of three branches - the judicial, the legislative, and the executive. The head of the judicial branch is the Supreme Court consisting of nine justices that are appointed by the President of the United States and approved by Congress. Their major duty of the Supreme Court is deciding if new laws passed by congress violate the constitution. The judicial branch is most responsible for protecting civil liberties (Baker & Brannen, 2005, Vol. 3 p. 370-376). The legislative branch is bicameral in structure, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. These two chambers combined make up our Congress. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members; each state is assigned a certain number of representatives based on that state's population. The Senate consists of 100 members, with each state holding two positions. Representatives serve two year terms, while Senators serve six year terms each. The main functions of Congress are to make laws and appropriate funding for the government. The Congress is arguably the most powerful branch in the government, as it sets everything the government does (Baker & Brannen, 2005, Vol. 2 p. 219). The final branch is the Executive branch. The head of the Executive branch is the President of The United States, followed by the Vice President. The chief duty of the president is to carry out and enforce laws that are passed by the Congress (Baker & Brannen, 2005, Vol. 3 p. 365-366). All the branches of government have checks and balances on each other. For example, the president can veto any law passed by congress, the Congress can deny any presidential appointments, and the Supreme Court can rule any law passed by Congress unconstitutional (Baker & Brannen, 2005, Vol. 2 p. 222).

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy governed according to Shari'a, which means Islamic law. They have a king who is head of state and head of government "They have no written constitution or elected legislature. The Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, is considered to be the country's constitution." (Khoury, 2006, Vol. 4, p. 85). The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdul Al-Aziz ibn Saud. It has been run by the Al-Saud family ever since. Before King Abdul Al-Aziz ibn Saud had fully taken control of the country, he worked to unify their judicial system. He organized them into three hierarchical categories: "expeditious courts, Shari'ah courts, and the Commission on Judicial Supervision. These classifications remain basically the same today." (Sullivan, Haberfield, Simonetti-Rosen, Moses-Schulz, 2005, Vol. 3. p. 1290) Since there is no separation of religion and government in Saudi Arabia, their religion, Islam plays a big role in the political landscape of the country. They have three branches of government like we do in the United States, judicial, legislative and executive. However, these branches are all controlled directly by the king, so the people have no real power in government. "The Saudi government contends that it protects human rights and civil liberties according to the Shari'a. However, numerous signs of suppression abound in the kingdom. Political parties, labor unions, and professional associations are banned, and opposition views are suppressed." (Khoury, 2006, Vol. 4, p. 86-87). The Saudi government is vastly different from the United States. The Saudi government represents the very thing the orginal colonists came to America to avoid in Great Britain.

Cuba is a communist state with absolute dictator, Fidel Castro. They have one political party, Communist Party of Cuba. Fidel Castro seized power through a revolution in 1958, and has been in power since January 1, 1959. Castro is chief of state and head of government. He does however; have a 31-member Council of State, 39-member of Council of Ministers, seven-member Executive Committee of Council of Ministers, and six Vice-Presidents of Council of State (Hudson, 2001 p. xli). This shows that unlike monarchies, Fidel Castro values more opinions than just his own when making big decisions in government. Cuba wrote a constitution in 1992, outlining a 601 member unicameral legislative branch named National Assembly of People's Power. However, they only meet two or three times a year for two or three days. They also have a judicial branch which hears cases and oversees Cuba's police force. Cuba has elections at the provincial national levels. However, they are not "free" elections. No one is allowed to campaign under any party but the Communist Party of Cuba (Hudson, 2001 p. xlii). The Cuban government and Fidel Castro are not as absolute and controlling as monarchies; but still have a totalitarian government that asserts its rule against the people. They have elections like the United States, but are not free like ours.

The countries I chose- Saudi Arabia and Cuba, are vastly different from each other, as well as from the United States. They both have a totalitarian system of government, and a ruler who has been in power for a long time. Cuba has elections, but they are not free, like the United States; and Saudi Arabia has no elections at all. I have a greater appreciation for our style of government after studying other countries political landscapes.

Cited Works

St. PetersburgCollege Library Online (Gale)

Baker, Lawrence W. (Ed.) and Brannen, Daniel E., Jr. (2005) Vol. 2: Checks and Balances: The Three Branches of the American Government. Detroit: UXL, p. 217-238, Retrieved October 4, 2007, from Gale virtual reference library.

St. PetersburgCollege Library Online (Gale)

Baker, Lawrence W. (Ed.) and Brannen, Daniel E., Jr. (2005) Vol. 3: Checks and Balances: TheThree Branches of the American Government. Detroit: UXL, p. 359-377, Retrieved October 4, 2007, from Gale virtual reference library.

Hudson, Rex A. (Ed.) (2001, April). Cuba: A Country Study, 4^th Edition. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, Department of Army.

St. PetersburgCollege Library Online (Gale)

Khoury, Amal I. (2006). Governments of the World: A Global Guide to Citizens' Rights and Responsibilities. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 83-88. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from Gale virtual reference library.

Miller, James and Thompson, John (2006). Almanac of American History. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society.

St. PetersburgCollege Library Online (Gale)

Sullivan, Larry E. (Ed.), Haberfield, M., Simonetti-Rosen, M., Moses-Schulz, D., (2005) Saudi Arabia; Law Enforcement, Vol. 3: International. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference. p. 1289-1291. Retrieved October 4, 2007, from Gale virtual reference library.