UNIT 5: THE US GOVERNMENT

Overview of American Political System

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.

Form of government FEDERALISM

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

2. The government structure

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

Function: to administer the laws passed by Congress

Structure: the President, the Vice-president and government departments and agencies. The President : elected to a four-year term and can

be elected to a second term

The vice-president: elected with the president, has 2 constitutional duties

Power of the President 5 major roles

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

The president and legislature operate seperately

Judicial branch

Function: to determine whether laws of Congress or actions of the

President violate the Constitution

Structure:

headed by the Supreme Court

under the Supreme Court is state and federal courts

Supreme Court members: 9 members appointed by the president and serve for a life time.

Checks and Balances

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.

3. Political Party System

Two-party system

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

Two-party system: Democrats and Republicans

Characteristics of the two parties

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.

The role of the parties

To organize the partys National Convention,

which decides who will be the partys candidate for President and vice-president

In the House of Representatives and the Senate, the

major party controls the most powerful committees, who decide what laws are made and how the administration spends its money

Characteristics of the party system

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.

The Electoral College

Each state chooses its own electors, in proportion to their representation in Congress, and those electors choose the president.

Winner-takes-all rule and Proportional voting

48 States, including Washington D.C.: have a winner-takes-all rule for the Electoral College Nebraska and Maine: there could be a split of electoral votes among candidates through the State's system for proportional allocation of votes

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 Lobbyists

Interest groups

are organized by people who want to influence public policy

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

A lobbyist is a lawyer or a former legislator, who

specializes in the interest he or she represents possesses an insiders view of the lawmaking process.

Lobbyists work for interest groups

by keeping them informed about proposed legislation by talking to decision-makers about their groups concerns.