Dragongirl said:
Depending on how politically minded you are I have recently found out things on Europe that surprised me and that I would not like very much. They (in general) do not elect their leaders, they vote for a party who then decides who will be the leader. Also unlike the US they rarely have referrendums on laws, and are generally less democratic than I thought. If Horacio explained things to me correctly. 
Edit : Ok the above for at least Spain and France. 
Hi Dragongirl
I'd have to say that the above is both right and wrong at the same time. Europe has a different approach to democracy but not necessarily a less democratic approach - for instance much of Europe (though not the UK (well, not for General Elections - this could get complicated) follows a system of proportional representation, where parties are allocated seats in direct proportion to the number of votes cast, rather than using the first-past-the-post system favoured in the UK and US, which tends to distort the final result of any ballot (though largely avoiding the risk of constant coalition government as seen in many European states and others such as Israel &c). You also have to bear in mind that, unlike the US, most European countries don't operate on an essentially 2-party system, thus allowing a wider range of voices to be heard. There are generally also much stronger laws on the funding of parties/candidates by lobby groups/companies - this combined with much lower electoral costs reduces (though by no means eliminates) the risk of politicians being in the pockets of Big Tobacco/Big Oil/&c.
These are just a few examples. I'd really hate to say which system was the more democratic (though I would lay a hell of a lot of money that it's not China)
As for the leader thing, it's important not to confuse the role of symbolic heads of state (eg Queen Elizabeth in the UK, King Juan Carlos of Spain) and political leaders (eg Tony Blair in the UK). In the US, both roles are held by the President, in countries with monarchies the Head of State (whose functions are essentially symbolic) is not elected but the Political Leader is. Generally, the political leader will be the leader of the party which has a parliamentary majority - eg in the UK 1997 Tony Blair was the leader of the opposition, chosen by all members of the Labour Party; when Labour won a massive majority in the 1997 General Election, Tony Blair became Prime Minister. Blair campaigned on the Labour Party manifesto and everyone who voted knew that if Labour won, Blair would become PM. In France, Germany &c, in contrast, the Head of State
is directly elected
Apologies to everyone if this has turned into a lecture. Hope it hasn't been too boring (and that anyone will tell me if I've managed to complete muck up my run down of euro-politics)
And good luck with your move Malessa (I'd have to confirm that living in London is (a) ridiculously expensive and (b) about as rural as Manhattan but don't let that put you off the rest of the UK)
FF
