The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are constitutionally independent of the Prime Minister’s term. On September 6, 2008, the Electoral College (composed of the Senate, the National Assembly, and the four Provincial Assemblies) chose Asif Ali Zardari as the eleventh President of Pakistan for a five-year term. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly and is assisted by a cabinet of ministers drawn from both chambers of the federal legislature. The current Prime Minister is Yousaf Raza Gillani of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who took office on March 25, 2008.

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP (Grand Old Party), although the rival Democratic Party is older. Eighteen US presidents have been Republicans. The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S. political spectrum. American conservatism of the Republican Party is not wholly based upon rejection of the political ideology of liberalism, as many principles of American conservatism are based upon classical liberalism. Rather the Republican Party's conservatism is largely based upon its support of classical liberal principles against the modern liberalism of the Democratic Party that is considered American liberalism in contemporary American political discourse.