Comparative Politics: The
West
Topic Six, Part II:
The United States of America
(Part II): Constitution and Politics
The United States of America
The Constitution
The States
The Federal System
Congress
President
Supreme Court
Political Parties
The Constitution
Adopted in 1789, the US Constitution is
now the world’s oldest written
constitution still in force (although it was
not the first);
It works on two key principles;
“Separation of Powers”,
and,
“Checks and Balances”
“Separation of Powers”
This theory was first developed by
Montesquieu and says that all
government can be divided into three
kinds of decision-making:
Legislative (i.e. general law-making);
Executive (i.e. day-to-day management);
and,
Judicial (i.e. individual cases).
“Separation of Powers”
The US Constitution was deliberately
designed to have separate Institutions
for each of these powers, that is,
The Congress which is the legislature;
The President who is the executive;
and,
The Supreme Court (together with other
lower courts) which is the judiciary.
“Checks and Balances”
It is another principle of the US
Constitution that each of these powers
should check and balance the others.
(Also, of course, the States and the
Federation check and balance each
other as well.)
The States
Originally, in 1777, there were 13 states
but over the years new ones have been
created.
Today there are 50 states.
The one with the largest population is
California with more than 32 million
people;
The one with the smallest population is
Wyoming with less than 500,000.
The States
Each State has its own constitution
similar to the US one.
Each State has a “Governor” (ie. State
President), a Congress and a Supreme
Court.
States have very considerable powers
including local government, industry,
roads, welfare, health and education.
Criminal law is mostly a state matter.
The United States today
The US Federal System
The powers of the Federal Government
include:
Foreign Affairs and Defence;
Money and Weights and Measures;
Trade between the States and with the
rest of the world;
Certain basic Human Rights.
The US Federal System
In the US, the powers of the Federal
Government are set out in the
Constitution.
The Federal government cannot do
anything else.
All other powers belong to the States
separately.
Vertical Federalism
(Example: Germany)
The US Federal System
Unlike Germany, the US does not have
Vertical Federalism.
The different governments in the US, (ie.
The 50 State Governments + the Federal
Government itself) are completely
independent from each other.
They have no need to co-operate.
The US Federal System
On the one hand, each American has
his/her State Government and, on the
other, the US Federal Government itself.
Every American has to deal with two
separate systems of law, two separate
governments, two separate
administrations, two sets of police, two
sets of courts, and so on and so on.
This is “Horizontal Federalism”.
Horizontal Federalism
(Example: United States)
The Congress
The Congress is the Legislature, that is it
is the American Parliament.
The Congress is bi-cameral.
The two Houses are:
The Senate;
and,
The House of Representatives
The Congress
The bi-cameral arrangement was a
compromise between those who thought
the States should be equally represented
and those who thought the people
should.
However, this arrangement has now
become normal in almost all federal
systems world-wide.
The US Senate
There are two Senators from each State
regardless of size.
Therefore there are 100 Senators
(because there are now 50 States).
Senators are directly elected in their
States and serve for six-years each.
However, one-third of the Senate is
elected every two years.
The House of Representatives
There are 435 Representatives directly
elected in the different States according
to their populations. California (the
biggest State) has 52 Representatives;
the smallest states have only one.
The entire House is re-elected every two
years.
The Congress
Most Federal laws have to be agreed by
both the Senate and the House of
Representatives.
If they disagree, the Senate has the last
word on things like foreign policy and the
House has the last word on things like
money and taxes.
The original US Capitol Building,
Washington DC
The enlarged US Capitol Building,
Washington DC
The completed US Capitol Building,
Washington DC as it is today
The President of the United States
The President of the US is the Executive, that
is, he (and the people who work for him) is the
Government.
The President is elected for four years by the
people voting in each State separately through
a so-called “Electoral College”.
Each State has as many electoral college votes
as it has members of the Congress, ie.
California has 54 votes (52+2); Wyoming has 3
votes (1+2).
The President of the United States
The President
appoints the Ministers (they are called
“Secretaries” in the US)
He appoints members of the Supreme
Court, Ambassadors and many other
civil servants;
(although the Senate must approve all
these appointments);
The President of the United States
The President
Is Commander-in-Chief of the armed
forces
The President can veto a new law unless
the Congress can pass it again with a
two-thirds majority of both Houses.
He is generally very free to act outside
the United States but his powers at
home are very limited.
George W. Bush,
President of the United States, 2000-
The “Executive Mansion”
(better known as the “White House”)
Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court is the highest court
in America.
It consists of 9 “Justices” appointed for life
by the President but with the consent of the
Senate.
There are about 100 other federal courts.
All these courts can declare any act of any
federal or state body unconstitutional.
Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court is one of the most
powerful courts in the world.
Only the German Federal Constitutional
Court might be more powerful.
The Supreme Court
Political Parties
The United States has only two political
parties that matter.
The are among the oldest in the world.
But they are not really like European parties.
They are very loosely organised and not very
ideological.
There main job is to put forward candidates
for elections.
But they are not completely unimportant.
The Democratic Party
Traditionally, the Democratic Party was
an alliance between Northern industrial
working-class and Southern rural
interests.
Today, however, it can be said to be a
little more left-wing (Americans would
say more “Liberal”) than the Republicans
– but not much.
The Republican Party
The Republican Party was traditionally
the Party of the West and was a strong
supporter of farming interests.
Today, however, it has become more
sympathetic to big business and can be
said to be a little more right-wing
(Americans would say “more
Conservative”) than the Democrats – but
not much.