Australia vs China Political Structures

When comparing the communist nation of China with the democratic nation of Australia many differences are apparent. The application of the legislative (law making and modifying function), executive (administrative function) and judiciary (law enforcing and dispute resolving function) is vastly different between the two nations as can see when we compare and contrast the underlying principles of each system of government. Firstly, both nations claim to uphold the concept of the rule of law, although due to corruptive forces surrounding the Chinese court system, this concept is often thwarted and equality before the law is not upheld. Within the constitutions of both nations the basic principles of separation of powers have been applied; however on examination of the practice of separation within the nations we find that convention (in the case of Australia) and the corruptive influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have not allowed such separation. Finally, the representation of the people by each nation’s governments will be compared through examining contrasting election and law making practices. With reference to the three arms of government, the comparisons made between the underlying principles of both China and Australia’s systems of government will support the understanding that democratic nations are a government of the people, by the people, for the people; making them just, whilst communist nations often struggle to provide the same justice and citizen involvement in their political process.
A democratic nation like Australia consists of a political system based on the rule of law and the will of the people. Australian legislative (parliament) consists of a two party preferred system in which either the Labour party or the Liberal party will form the government depending on preference of the people. Contrastingly a communist government is marked by authoritarian rule, single party control and a tightly run economy. In China the National People’s