Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
1. Form of Government 2. The Government Structure 3. Political Party System 4. Political Participation
1. Form of government
The US = representative of democracy Three features created by the Constitution to guard against tyranny: Federal organization of government Separation of powers among different branches System of checks and balances to restrict the power of each branch.
Central government
Authority divided
Individual states
National government has power over areas of wide concern Each state has its own legislative, executive and judicial institutions Concurrent power: powers which both central govt. and states share
LIMITED GOVERNMENT
The national government is divided into 3 separate branches: LEGISLATIVE EXECUTIVE JUDICIAL
3 branches limit each others power through a system of Checks and Balances
Legislative Branch
Function: to make laws Structure: Congress with 2 houses : the Senate and the House of Representatives , both meet in the Capitol-a building in Washington, D.C
Legislative Branch
The Senate
The House
100 members Each state has 2 Elected to 6 year term every two years 1/3 of seats are up for re-election Vice-president is the President of the Senate.
435 members Number according to size of states population. Each district has one. Elected to 2 year term Members can also be called Congressmen and Congresswomen
Executive branch
Chief excutive: appoints secretaries of major departments making up his cabinet and senior officals of agencies. Head of state: represents the country Chief diplomat: appoints foreign ambassadors, makes treaties with other nations Unique feature Commander-in-chief of the military Head of his political party
Judicial branch
Structure:
Each branch checks or limits the power of the other branches. With this system, no branch has superior power and the Constitution effectively ensures that government power will not be usurped by a small powerful group of a few leaders.
The role of the parties Characteristics of the party system Minor parties
Election system
Two-party system
History: When the nation was founded, 2 political groupings emerged: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. For 100 years, the Democratic and Republican parties have been dominated. Since then two major parties have been alternated in power
The two parties tend to be similar: both support the same overall political and economic goals; neither seeks to shake the foundation of US economy or social structure They propose different means of achieving similar goals: + Democrats: believe that federal and state government should provide social and economic programs for needers. + Republicans: think that social programs are too costly; tend to favor big businesses and private enterprise; and want to limit the role of the government.
1. 2. 3.
2 major parties alternating in power Lack of ideology Lack of unity and discipline within each party.
Minor parties
Any party other than the two major parties can be called a
Third party. No third party has ever gained control of the White House. Sometimes, third parties win seats in Congress or gain office in lower levels of government. In most cases, they have been assimilated by the larger two or have just fade away. Their most important role is to influence policy on one or more issues.
Election system
People might not waste their votes for minor party candidates
Winner-take-all-election system: only one candidate the one with more votes is elected to a given office in one district. Indirect election - The Electoral College: Representatives of the people in presidential elections. 270 / 538 electoral votes guarantee the Presidency.
Each state chooses its own electors, in proportion to their representation in Congress, and those electors choose the president.
It is possible for the electoral vote to produce a different result than the nation-wide popular vote => the President is not chosen by a nation-wide popular vote
4. Political Participation
Interest groups
decision on special issues such as the environment, civil rights, peace, etc.
have the desire to sway public opinion and political policy through - press, radio, and television; - letters, phone calls, hold public meetings and sponsorship of newspaper ads.
Lobbyists
specializes in the interest he or she represents possesses an insiders view of the lawmaking process.
by keeping them informed about proposed legislation by talking to decision-makers about their groups concerns.