If the US system is so great, why was an ATR allowed to fly round and round in circles for 45 mins in icing conditions whilst holding, had the dispatcher or Captain made the decision to divert, they would not have ended up as a smoking hole in the ground.
Also what about the AA MD-80 or whatever it was that landed in a T-storm and slid off the end of the runway.
Or the L10-11 that landed in severe bad weather and was hit by a micro burst smashing it into the ground.
We can all pull out accidents from both systems, all that proves is both of them are not 100% fail safe.
Anyway, back to the topic.
In the UK at least, the airline will have a central Flight Operations Department that handles things similar to what a Dispatcher would do in the States. They also usually have seperate flight planning departments who deal just with the flight planning.
The dispatchers in the UK are generally guys and girls who work a/c side to run the turnround, although most have now been re-branded as Turnaround Co-ordinators due to some H&S bolleaux that was enforced upon them a couple of years ago. Depending on the airline/ handling agent will depend on the level of involvment and experience. Some airlines/H.Agents also have the Dispatcher/TCO produce the loadsheet at a/c side whilst others don't.
Some airlines also term them Load Controllers, generally these people will also do the W&B function as well as running the turnaround, although some airlines will have a central W&B department where the Load Controllers work from, often this is an off airport location or even in another country altogether.
So basically in Europe, the term Dispatcher can mean a multitude of things, from the 19 y/o ramp tramp at a small regional airport who thinks he is the mutts nuts who just runs out paperwork, right through to a full on W&B trained bod with years and years of experience.
