Political System

Britain is a parliamentary democracy (议会民主) with a constitutional monarchy（君主立宪制）. This system is a form of government in which a monarch acts as Head of State and the power of the monarch（君主）(the king or queen) is largely symbolic, limited by parliament （议会,英国立法机关）, by law, or by custom. The government is elected by people and governs according to British constitutional（宪法的） principles. The British government is the first one to be established on the basis of the separation of powers (分权、权力分割).

I know that we have encountered some new vocabularies and phrases. Let’s  get start with Parlimentary Democracy.

Parliamentary Democracy (议会民主)

The principle behind British democracy (民主) is that the people elect Members of Parliaments (aka “MPs”，议员) to the House of Commons（下议院，议会两院之一） in London at a general election（大选）. Most MPs belong to a political party（政党）, and the party with the largest number of MPs in the House of Commons forms the government. British democratic government is based on the constitution（宪法）.

 We will further explain the Parliament and related norms in the Separation of Powers.  Let’s take a look at the Constitutional Monarchy first, then we will come to the Separation of Powers.