The United States of America (U.S.A) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) have a multifarious connection that dates back many years. They have a common history based war and peace, rebellion and harmony. They have the same legal scheme and language, which are intensely rooted in their common history. They both same and diverse political systems since they each hold elections, they have developed policy programs, and they both have a democracy. Even though they have many similarities, they are certain differences between the two nations. Comparative politics is an imperative form of political analysis that examines not only the politics of different nations but also American politics with a relative perspective and how they compare to foreign cultures. Comparative analysis is a standard that assists in conceptualizing how other administrations operate. This paper will examine each country’s political scheme and comparatively analyze on a particular policy issue.
Policy Issue Area: Drug abuse has been selected as the policy issue to be addressed in two nations.
Indicator: The rate of drug abuse for both America and U.K is used as the indicator for the policy issue. For instance, the rate of drug abuse in America is higher than the rate of drug abuse in the United Kingdom
Two Nations Selected: The two nations that have been selected for the comparative analysis include; the United States of America and the United Kingdom. These nations have the same history when it comes to war, and peace since they have both experienced the same quantity of wars in the past years.
Component Analysis
Comparative Method: Case Studies
A case study describes as one of the most effective methods applied in the comparative analysis. The application of case studies as a research method, in this case, is essential even to the social scientists since it enables them to conduct their research faster. Case studies often consume less time and are even less costly, making it easy and applicable to social scientists. Another compelling reason as to why case studies will be applied in this case is that it enables social scientists to study dynamic populations where it would be challenging to conduct follow-ups. For instance, in the case of America and the United Kingdom, there are diverse populations with high numbers which therefore makes it difficult for the scientists to use other methods since most of them do not allow for conducting follow-ups. However, when they use case studies, understanding the government and the population of the two nations would be easy.
The two countries comparison is made to understand various aspects of issues that exist in them; and also to establish priorities for the nations in making development. In understanding the modern world, the use of case study is important since it allows for in-depth investigation for person, phenomenon and even events. In other words, case studies assist in investigating and comprehending underlying principles in occurrence within a real world.
Overview of the Policy Issue Area
Drug abuse
Drug abuse has been identified as one of the major challenges most nations face in the current world. The United States of America is one of the most affected nations when it comes to the issue of drug abuse. This is because the American nation is bordered by nations such as Mexico where it is believed drugs production is high. However, U.K does not experience a high rate of drug abuse as compared to America, but it also tries to fight drug abuse since drug traffickers have recently started transporting some drugs to U.K which therefore makes drug abuse a policy issue for both America and U.K. Additionally, the two nations have since developed regulations which are believed to prevent drunk driving. Understanding the issue of drug abuse in both America and U.K is important for society; this is because drug abuse has been one of the major issues that affect development.
In nations where there are high cases of drug abuse, the rate of development is also affected since the money is spent on different activities such as drugs rather than development projects. It can also be stated that, understanding the policy issue of drug abuse is important to the modern society since it informs them of the negative results that are associated with drug abuse such as addiction, destruction of an economy and even death if one persists on using drugs. In other words, the general modern world depends on education as one of the major ways through people can learn, thus when they are taught about drug abuse, a reduction and even prevention of drug entry into a nation will be conducted. In the case of the United States, the government has come up with various regulations, and tough penalties to people found trafficking or using illegal drugs.
A description of the Indicator to be used in the analysis
The most effective indicator that will be applied in this case is the rate of drug abuse in both America and the United Kingdom. It has been noticed that the rate at which individuals consume illegal drugs such as cocaine in America is higher as compared to the U.K. This is because America is surrounded by nations that are majorly known for drug production and use such as Mexico. It can also be stated that the rate of drug abuse in both America and U.K has been selected as an indicator since it provides actual information concerning the lives of people in both the two nations used. For example, through analysis of the rate of drug abuse in both America and U.K, it would be easy to determine the people who are mostly affected by drug abuse and what social and cultural factors promotes the high rate of drug abuse. The selected metric is also believed to be a good way of studying the policy area since it covers different aspects of drug abuse such as the process by which the drugs are transported to the nations and the places where they are sold.
Discussion of the two nations and the role that policy has played in the past and current development
The United States and the United Kingdom are both nations that have been recognized for their democratic system of governance. A democratic system of government describes a government where the power is vested on the citizens who are either ruling directly or via freely elected members. Drug abuse has affected the two nations, however, in America, the rate of drug abuse is believed to be high as compared to the U.K. In the past, economic development of America was affected by drug abuse since it leads to the effects of labor production; whereby, most workers who consumed a lot of drugs could not work effectively. This has been a different case in the U.K where there was no high rate of drug consumption in the past. However, the few who consumed illegal drugs affected the economic development of the nation through overspending on drugs rather than the economy. The increased rate of drug abuse in America was caused by lack of stiff policies that could restrict people from consuming drugs. Additionally, economic opportunities also led to a high rate of drug abuse in America since most of the people viewed drug trafficking as one of the ways through which they could acquire money.
Another factor that contributed to high percentages of drug abuse in America is ideological differences among the American politicians. The American politicians had different ideas when it came to drugs whereby, others wanted certain drugs to be legalized to boost the economy while others saw it as an opportunity that will affect the health of the youths and the population in general. In America, drug abuse was associated with some culture whereby, most of the drug abusers adopted the past culture where most of the people in the past used drugs. However, in the case of U.K, stiff and strong policies that were created in the past led to a low percentage of drug abuse. Politically, the politicians in the U.K spoke in one language which allowed for the prohibition of most illegal drugs. The State also played an important role in the U.K since it proposed harsh penalties for drug abusers and traffickers.
A discussion of both countries’ futures regarding the policy issue. Do you feel that one or both countries will improve over time? Is one likely to backslide? Why?
Based on the analysis conducted about drug abuse in America and the United Kingdom, it is possible to indicate that, both nations will improve over time. This is because, in America, there have been laws established currently to prevent drug traffickers from transporting their drugs to America. Additionally, the American nation has also enforced strong security measures near its borders which also act as barriers for drug traffickers. Similar to America, the United Kingdom is also likely to improve over time since it has also enforced penalties for drug traffickers and users. This, therefore, indicates that not one of these nations is likely to backslide since with the emergence of technology, identifying drug traffickers would be easy.
Conclusion
Conclusively, both America and the United Kingdom have been analyzed based on the policy issue of drug abuse. Among these two nations, America faces a high percentage of drug abusers and traffickers as compared to the U.K. Some of the primary reasons as to why this occurs are based on the adoption of culture, need for capital and lack of political support. However, over time, the two nations are expected to improve with the introduction of new technology to provide security and identify drug traffickers.