In France you have a strong president that combines the role of a monarch and prime minister, but the role of "constitutional gatekeeper" is shared by the Const

In France you have a strong president that combines the role of a monarch and prime minister, but the role of "constitutional gatekeeper" is shared by the Constitutional Council, Supreme Court and Administrative Court. The latter three are actually entities that use their power. The idea of having two houses of parliament is common in most large countries, and it is also common for those houses to be segregated from the executive (EU etc...). The US is a political and cultural mess, but a lot of those issues aren't inherently due to the political system involved.