Name: Nguyễn Minh Thư

Student code: 22030372

Keys:
1. Why study this case?
- The US is governed by the oldest written constitution still in effect  standard to use in
measuring advanced industrial democracies.
- The US has a highly legitimate political regime and enjoys widespread adherence to the
rule of law despite having a political system deliberately designed to prevent decisive and
coherent policy making.  people’s proud and distrust.
- Dominated by 2 political parties but those themselves are relatively weak and at times
undisciplined.
- Religion still play a comparatively large role in politics and society.
- National and regional identities are still in flux because of migration and geographic
mobility.
- Persistent inequality and the presence of an impoverished underclass (seems like
characteristics of a developing countries despite its wealth).
- Power.
2. Major Geographic and Demographic Features
- 2016, population of US exceeded 320 million, third in the world. The population has also
become increasingly diverse.
- Land size third in the world.
- Central of North American continent, sandwiched between Canada and Mexico, ranging
from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean.
- Comprises 48 contiguous states, Alaska, the island state of Hawaii.
- Blessed with stunning geographic and climatic diversity.
- Cause of immigration, unlike other developed countries like Japan or European countries,
US does not face a labor shortage. But since this has also dramatically changed the country’s
ethnic and racial composition, prompting political divisions and social strains.
 3. Historical development
- America and the arrival of the European colonizers: English citizens migrated to America
in search of land and started to establish permanent settlements there in the early 17 th century.
The colony of the English started from 2 and increased rapidly through time, which all form the
US today. With the arrival of Europeans, the Native American societies collaborated with or
tolerated the colonist, while other violently resisted. But in the end, the Native American
societies declined because of disease, and also because of the subject to military suppression,
murder, and forced relocation.
- The revolution and the birth of a new state: At its core, the American Revolution was
caused by conflict between 2 sovereignties surrounding the right to raise taxes paid by colonists.
As the result, the number of taxes on colonists significantly increased, which sparked a spiral of
colonial petitions, protests, boycotts, and acts of civil disobedience. In 1774, anti-British colonial
elites get together for the First Continental Congress, which composed of delegates from each of
the 13 colonies. In 1776, The Congress appointed a committee to draft a constitution and
approve the Declaration of Independence. This marked the born of the “first new nation” (as it
was the first major colony to rebel successfully against European colonial rule.
- Consolidation of a democratic republic and debate over the role of the state: As the
American Revolution happened because of its opposition to a British state perceived as
overbearing, distrust of a strong state has become a feature of US politics. Fighting a war against
the British required a central authority transcending the 13 colonial governments, each of which
had begun functioning under new constitutions. For this, the Articles of Confederation (1781)
created a loose alliance of sovereign state. But this creates a lot of issues such as lacked a
national executive, lacked of ability to raise taxes or create national currency, and struggled to
create and maintain a national army… In response to those problems, a Constitution Convention
of state delegates was held, and after many compromises, the new constitution in 1788 had
effectively creating a new national state and a new political regime. Still, the feared of power of
a strong central state was there. This concern was also addressed at the first US Congress met in
1788, and was solved by passing 12 amendments to the Constitution, which became known
collectively as the Bill of Rights. This aimed largely to protect the rights of individuals against
the federal government. Overtime, most provisions of this were gradually incorporated into state
law, thus protecting individuals from state government as well. One more thing, a major political
division in the young American republic was between Federalists, advocate to a strong central
state; and Democratic-Republicans, advocate to the principles of Republicanism.
- The move west and expansion of the state: The move westward of the US was by the use
of legislation and military force. In all, the rapidly expanding US gained a large part of territory,
further encouraging the flood of migrants westward. As the territorial boundaries of the state
expanded, so too did the franchise and popular democracy. As result, by 1830, the right to vote
had been extended to virtually all white males.
- Civil war and the threat to unity: Though the American Revolution with the Federalist
leaders had temporarily united the English colonies and constructed a strong central state, the
Federalist projects was always controversial, and the simmering regional differences was still
there, threatened to destroy the Union. These differences culminated in the Civil War (1861-
1865). Its roots were both the divergent paths of socioeconomic development in the southern and
northern regions of the country and the slavery sidestepped issue. After the war, 3 keys
constitutional amendments were ratified, including abolishing slavery, guaranteeing to all
citizens due process and equal protection under the law, and prohibiting voter discrimination on
the basis of race (though not yet gender). The importance of the Civil War in the development of
the US was immense as it helped strengthened the Union through army building during the war,
promote democratic values as it ended race-based slavery.
- The progressive era and the growth of state power
- The great depression and the new deal
- The civil rights movement and the war on poverty
4. Political regime
- The US established a democratic regime governed by the rule of law (because of their
experience with, deep distrust of, authoritarian colonial rule).
- As the rule of law can lead to tyranny, the US continued to established a liberal
democratic political system with institution intentionally designed to weaken the power and
authority of the state.
- For political institutions, the US contained of political institutions, the branches of
government, the electoral system, local government.
- Political institutions:
 + The constitution: The Constitution of the US was passed largely as a compromise
between many groups, but all side of the debate shared 2 characteristics: fear of too much
government in the form of an overbearing central authority, and recognition that the Articles of
Confederation had provided too little government. The US Constitution also stands out as the
oldest written constitution still in force. It has served as the model for constituting the regimes of
many newly established countries, and its guiding principles of federalism and separation of
powers have become standards for numerous democracies.
+ Branches of government: 3 institutions: a president, a bicameral legislature (Congress);
and a judiciary led by the Supreme Court. There are also several institutions designed to check
and balance the powers of each representative branch of government, but in all, the Congress
was still in the upper hand (although not as much as in other states) by amending the
Constitution. As the legitimacy and power was divided, it creates a system of checks and
balances. Though this has been criticized as the tendency for US policy-making “gridlock” (as an
intended consequence of the system of checks and balances), it fostered a state with weak
autonomy and a relatively fragmented policy-making process. On the other hand, this system
reflects the powerful liberal sentiments of both its founders and US political culture today.
+ The presidency: The US president is both the head of state and the dead of government,
serves a fixed 4-year term and can be elected only twice. In the US, the president has
traditionally taken the lead role in US foreign policy, commander in chief of the military, and
responsible for managing day-to-day affairs of the government and makes senior appointments to
the executive and judicial branches, also manages an enormous bureaucracy (executive branch)
which its workforce is overseen by a cabinet. In some respects, US bureaucrats lack both the
autonomy and the respect historically accorded to their counterparts in countries such as France,
Germany, and Japan. As the result, the presidency is invested with a great deal of formal
authority and can have large influence overtime. Predictably, both the legislative and the judicial
branches have sought to challenge and check this growing influence.
+ The legislature: The Constitution intended Congress (which has the supreme power to
legislate and the power of purse – sole authority to appropriate funds and thus control the way its
laws are implemented) to be the dominant branch of the US government, and it can be said that
among the world’s legislatures, only the US Congress has this much authority. The Congress
decided to divide the legislature against itself by making it bicameral (which include the House
of Representatives, and the Senate).
+ The judiciary: The least defined by the Constitution and initially quite weak but later
has come to play a prominent role in the American political system. The US judiciary has the
authority to interpret the constitution, to do judicial review (the authority to judge
unconstitutional or invalid an act of the legislative or executive branch or of a state court of
legislature), and involve in determining important policy outcomes in several areas. Federal
judges are given lifetime appointments, which afford them substantial autonomy from both
partisan politics and the other branches of government. But the Court’s power is checked by its
reliance on presidential nomination and Senate approval of nominees to the federal bench, and
by legislative or executive enforcement of its decisions.
 - The electoral system: Nearly all elections in the US are conducted according to a single-
member district plurality system. There is one representative per district, and the seat is awarded
to the candidate with the most votes (but not necessarily with a majority). Unlike system of
proportional representation, the plurality system favored the 2 broadly defined parties. For this,
parties seek to influence electoral outcomes by redrawing the districts (manipulate district
boundaries) in ways that will favor their candidates and voting blocs. Although members of both
chambers of Congress are elected directly by a popular vote, the president and the vice president
are elected indirectly by the electoral college. In this system, each state receives a total of
electoral votes equal to its combined number of senators and representatives, and the candidate
requires a majority of votes to claim victory in the formula of winner-take-all (the House of
Representatives will be determined if there is no majority).
- Local government: The US has a federal political system dividing authority between self-
governing states and the national government that unites the states. Side by side, the Constitution
authorizes the national, or federal, government to manage both national commerce and foreign
policy; the states retained significant powers, including responsibility for many direct social
services and authority over internal commerce. Overtime, however, the national government has
managed to increase its in influence in many of the areas traditionally subject to state
sovereignty. This federal structure of national and state authority has allowed states to
experiment with a variety of policies in areas. But it has also resulted in a lack of standardization
in those areas and varying levels of benefits and enforcement across the states.
5. Political conflict and competition
- Federalism and the separation of powers have had another important consequence: as there are
multiple levels and branches of elected office in the US political system, the frequency the voters
of the US have to go to the polls are 2 to 3 times as often compare to the counterparts in other
democracies. Although this may be an indication of the health of democracy, some have pointed
to it as a cause of “voter fatigue” and one of several reasons for the strikingly lower levels of
voter turnout.
- The party system: Another factor sometimes blamed for declining rates of voter turnout is the
weakness of political parties as it tends to be weaker and more fragmented today than it formerly
was and compare to their counterparts in other countries. This weakness has resulted from the
gradual democratization of the candidate nomination process (primary elections are now used to
select candidates) and unintended consequences of campaign finance reform (which has
restricted spending by political parties, but not by others private group). The 2 largest parties in
the US are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, which has taken every vote (even
when the 2 parties were not as popular as now, they together won about 95% of the popular
vote).
+ The Democratic Party: It can be said that this party tends to embrace policies that support
minorities, urban dwellers, organized labor, and working women.
+ The Republican Party: This Party currently brings together a coalition that includes both
economic and moral conservatives. It draws support disproportionately from rural dwellers,
upper-income voters, evangelical Christians, and voters favoring individual freedom over
collective equality.
+ Third Party: Third parties occasionally have emerged on the US political scene as protest
voices. Although do having some impact, the parties belong to this group couldn’t won over the
2 major parties in US. One factor contributing to the lack of third-party success in the US is that
the dominant parties have routinely embraced key elements of the more successful third-party
movements, bringing at least some of the disaffected voters back into the 2-party fold even as
they weaken the third parties.
- Elections: In contrast to countries governed by parliamentary systems, in the US, terms for all
elected offices – and therefore the sequencing of elections – are fixed. Each state determines the
conduct of its elections, including the rule for any primary elections. Electioneering in the US
has shifted from campaigning done almost exclusively by party leaders and grassroots party
workers to highly centralized and professionalized media campaigns. As voters have apparently
become less loyal to either party, and in many cases less interested in voting or participating at
all, the parties and their candidates have redoubled their efforts (and expanditures0) to attract
support.
- Civil society: Recently, there has been signs of growing political apathy among US citizens
with the evidence of lower voter turnout. However, others argue that the citizen’s interest have
perhaps not declined but just simply changed: because the policy-making process in the US is so
complex and allows so many points of access, it has been difficult for individual citizens to
influence the political process. And as political parties have grown weaker and less cohesive, the
people started to turn to other interest groups and access to politic through there (especially
through funding electioneering).
6. Society
- Ideology and political culture: The US melting pot image has led to much debate about the
distinctiveness of US ideology and political culture.
+ Individualism and freedom: While other industrial democracies are more likely to view
freedom as resulting from government policy and try to specify what the state should provide its
citizens in their constitution, the Americans typically view their individual freedom in terms of
what the state cannot do to them and as a result, the US Constitution emphasizes citizens’
protections from the state and tend to favor personal or individual goals over collective or
societal goals. Consequently, private property is especially important, and taxes, which some
view as the state’s appropriation of private property, are highly unpopular.
+ Participatory civil society: civil society referred to the participation of Americans in a large
number of voluntary groups. This exemplifies the notion of self-government and political
equality of the US. It is said that American citizens, far more than citizens in other democracies,
believe that participation in community affairs is part of good citizenship.
+ Populism: The idea that the masses should dominate elites and that the popular should trump
professional expertise, is a key feature of the US creed. As a result, Americans believe in
electing public officials at virtually all levels of society, and a recent public opinion research
show that a growing number of Americans would favor a presidential candidate who did not
have prior experience in national politics.
+ Equality of opportunity, not outcome: A deep-seated aspect of US political culture, is the
belief that all Americans have, and should have, and equal opportunity to become prosperous and
successful. Despite that, Americans also believed that a person’s success comes from hard-work,
so they tend to oppose state policies aimed at redistributing income to benefit the poor. As a
result, the disparities of income are greater in the US than in most of Europe, and still growing
quickly.
+ Anti-statism: With the distrust of “excessive” central state power that come along with their
history, the American is uniquely anti-statism, especially when it has become a founding
principle of the new regime (as mentioned in the US history). This can be seen in the
establishment of the checks on power myriad system. As a result, Americans remain skeptical of
state efforts to promote social welfare.
+ The importance of religious values: A far higher percentage of the US citizens belong to a
church or other religious organization that do the citizens of other advanced democracies, and
Americans are more likely to believe that clear guidelines differentiate good and evil. The
importance of religion in the US has been linked to utopian moralism, which referred to the
tendency of Americans to view the world in terms of good and evil. American are uncomfortable
both with sanctioning behavior they may see as immoral and with restricting personal behavior.
(((((((((((((((((((((((

The United States operates under a presidential system, distinguishing it from parliamentary and
semi-presidential systems. Unlike a parliamentary system, where the executive branch derives its
legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature, the U.S. president is directly elected by the
people through an Electoral College. This structure provides a clear separation of powers
between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. In contrast to semi-presidential
systems, where both a president and a prime minister share executive authority, the U.S.
president holds substantial power as both the head of state and the head of government. This
system ensures a strong executive leadership that remains independent of the legislative branch,
yet subject to checks and balances.

What makes the U.S. political system unique compared to other nations with a presidential
system is its strict adherence to the separation of powers and a well-defined system of checks and
balances. Many other presidential democracies struggle with executive overreach or legislative
inefficacy, but the U.S. system mitigates these risks through institutional mechanisms. The
Constitution, the oldest written national constitution still in effect, lays the foundation for this
structure and has remained largely intact since its ratification in 1787. Additionally, federalism
plays a significant role in distinguishing the U.S. political system. Power is divided between the
national and state governments, granting individual states a degree of legislative autonomy. This
decentralized approach allows states to experiment with policies independently, creating a
diverse political landscape across the country. Another defining feature is judicial review,
wherein the Supreme Court has the authority to interpret the Constitution and overturn laws
deemed unconstitutional. This practice, established in Marbury v. Madison (1803), grants the
judiciary significant influence over national policy and legal interpretation.

The U.S. political system consists of three coequal branches of government. The executive
branch, led by the president, is responsible for enforcing laws, managing foreign policy, and
serving as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The legislative branch, known as Congress,
is bicameral, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House, with 435
members, represents the population proportionally, while the Senate, with 100 members,
provides equal representation for each state. This structure balances the interests of populous and
less populous states. The judiciary, led by the Supreme Court, ensures laws align with
constitutional principles. Justices are appointed for life, which provides stability but has led to
debates over judicial activism and partisanship.

One of the major advantages of the U.S. political system is its stability. The Constitution has
provided a durable framework for governance, surviving multiple political crises. The separation
of powers prevents any one branch from gaining excessive control, reducing the risk of
authoritarian rule. Additionally, federalism encourages policy innovation, as states can serve as
testing grounds for new policies before national implementation. Judicial review further protects
individual rights by ensuring that laws comply with constitutional principles. Frequent elections
also enhance accountability, allowing citizens to express their preferences and hold leaders
responsible.

However, the system also has notable disadvantages. One significant drawback is policy
gridlock. The division of power between the executive and legislative branches can lead to
prolonged legislative stagnation, especially when different parties control them. This often
results in difficulties passing laws, as seen in government shutdowns and stalled policy
initiatives. Another disadvantage is the inconsistency of laws across states due to federalism,
which can create inequalities in healthcare, education, and civil rights protections. Additionally,
the Electoral College has been criticized for not always reflecting the popular vote, leading to
contentious election outcomes. Furthermore, the prevalence of gerrymandering, where district
boundaries are manipulated to favor specific parties, distorts democratic representation. The
influence of money in politics also raises concerns, as well-funded interest groups and corporate
donations can heavily impact elections and policy decisions.

Overall, the U.S. political system is a well-established model of democratic governance, offering
stability, institutional resilience, and a balance of power. However, it also faces challenges
related to legislative inefficiency, electoral fairness, and political polarization. While its unique
features, such as federalism and judicial review, provide strengths, they also contribute to the
complexity and occasional dysfunction of the system. Understanding these dynamics is crucial to
assessing the effectiveness and adaptability of the U.S. government in addressing contemporary
political challenges.