How does efficiency vary in similar government structures? When one thinks of a government headed by a monarch the first country that comes to mind is almost immediately the United Kingdom. The British throne and the Royal family is one of the most infamous and influential families in the world. In Iran the supreme leader and their family is equally if not more influential and infamous in their own region. While a key difference in their sphere of power is the fact that in Iran their governing body is well spelt out in a written constitution and in the United Kingdom there is no such written constitution. At the same time however the two governments are very similar in the way that they balance their power and leadership through different people and branches of government. Both governments have elected and unelected officials who hold some sort of power. While the UK has been able to balance the power amongst the elected and unelected officials, Iran has struggled to maintain such a balance which has led to and caused the country to be more susceptible to political violence. The UK is simply classified as parliamentary democracy even know they have a monarchy with a figure head who does not really hold any power. Iran, on the other hand is a mix between the traditional ways of Iranian theocracy mixed with a presidential democracy. What is most interesting between these political structures is that although they are similar in the aspect of mixed governments with a balance of power through different departments, the people of Iran lack the freedom and equality that is well represented in the United Kingdom. We will look at how each political structure came to be and in doing so try to analyze why and how each country came to be. This will answer the ultimate question of why the balance of freedom of balance and equality is more apparent in the United Kingdom and the people benefit more from this trait. Iran is extremely inefficient in its implementation of governmental policies because of the unorthodox balance of power. For the past 40 years Iran has experienced numerous power struggles due to its unique government structure of unelected and elected officials. The Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978 changed the political sphere of the country itself. The elected institutions are comprised of the president and his cabinet, along with the parliament and assembly of experts. On the other side the unelected institutions are comprised of the supreme leader with his armed forces, the head of judiciary, and the expediency council. The guardian council serves as the liaison between the institutions. Although this is true, the following diagram shows more specifically how each institution is connected to the other side. The president of Iran has a similar role as the US president in that he is elected by the people and serves four terms but no more than two consecutive ones. He has he own cabinet in whom he selects and his main duty is being responsible for ensuring that the constitution is implemented properly. He is the second in line, according to the constitution. The parliament in Iran is comprised of 290 members who are also elected every four years. As mentioned earlier the key component in linking the unelected and elected officials is the guardian council. The guardian council is the most influential body in Iran and connects the two sides because it consists of six theologians who are appointed by the supreme leader as well as six jurists who are nominated by judiciary and then approved by parliament The UK political structure is a highly democratic well comprised system where the separation and balance of power is essential to its efficiency. While the head monarch, that is the king or queen is often viewed as the leader of the country, in actuality they do not run the country and most of the in their powers are ceremonial. In the UK’s political structure the prime minister holds the power equitable to that of the supreme leader in Iran. Their electoral process is quite different however because the prime minister is not elected by the people but rather by House of Commons. In order to remain in power, the prime minister must hold a majority vote in the House of Commons. The House of Commons, along with the House of the lords create the bicameral parliament of the UK government. They are often referred to as Westminster because that is the name of the building where they are housed. This branch of government is headed by the speaker who unlike many parliamentary countries this speaker is completely non-political. Overall the UK balances its powers by splitting the power amongst three branches; the executive is the branch with ministers who run the country propose new laws, the legislature is the branch that is that passes these laws, and the legislature is comprised of the judges and courts who ensure that these laws have been observed. The UK’s current political structure was formed with the bill of rights in 1689. While the UK has no written constitution, the bill of rights serves as some sort of political structure. It deemed that there be no catholic heir to the crown and defined parliament as the supreme holder of power. The way we analyze a country can define how efficient we determine it to be. Efficiency is defined by how much the people benefit in their everyday lives due to the governmental structure of the country. Does the way the government operate promote efficiency and thus benefit the people’s needs or does it fail to operate efficiency because of a poorly structured system, in turn creating victims of the people? Iran has such a complex governmental structure that they have created an inner circle of supreme power among certain institutions. In doing so they fail to be inclusive of other institutions who have power bestowed upon them but cannot execute their power because they are almost illegitimate. Here is another graph which illustrates the connections but more clearly shows how there is a divide among different groups: On the other hand, the UK is able to equally separate their powers simply because it has less institutions with legitimate power. The complexity of Iran’s government also causes significant losses in the country’s voter turnout rate. With so many positions to be elected, the public does not seem to be able to keep up with each election and also to understand the role of each person that they are electing. The UK does not have this issue. Part of it is tied to the fact that the monarchy remains unelected but also because of the lack of frequency of elections. When there is less frequent elections, people are more likely to remain interested when each one rolls around. With majority party control in the guardian council it is next to impossible for a bill to be passed in Iran. The council has the right to pass or veto bills created by the parliament and can approve candidates for elections. In 2005, Iran’s guardian council banned all but 6 candidates for election. It is clear that the UK balances government spending in a much better way than Iran. From the years 2011-2012 to 2012-2013 the UK saved almost 5 billion pounds of government spending. By 2015, they expected to save more than 20 billion pounds more per year than the baseline year of 2011. Another simple way to look at how beneficial a government is to its people is by looking at the health care services provided by the country. Health care also correlates to life expectancy and while the life expectancy in the UK is about 81 years, that of Iran is barely 70. It is clear that the UK’s government provides more health care service and devotes more yearly spending to ensuring the health care needs of its citizens. There is no doubt that the two political structures of Iran and the UK are very similar because of the way they balance and separate power. However Iran faces many difficulties in providing efficient governmental actions for its people because its governmental structure lacks the correlation that the UK has between its three distinctive branches. In judging how beneficial a country’s government is for its people it is essential to look at its efficiency. If a country is efficient it will be able to provide above and beyond the basic needs of its citizens and they will be pleased. A lack of efficiency creates a downward spiral starting with political violence and ends with an overwhelming amount of turmoil in the country. The UK is regarded as one of the more highly efficient governments in the world and for that reason is dramatically more suited to be beneficial for its people.

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