Policy of the United States of America

This article relates to the Politique of the United States of America . After having given an institutional reminder, it sticks to describe of it the general policy independently of the successive administrations.

The the United States of America are a République federal and presidential.

General principles

The political system of the United States of America rests on three basic principles: the Republic, the Democracy and the Federalism. It is defined by the constitution of 1787 and its amendments.

A Republic

The creation of the United States of America at the end of the 18th century took place in the context of the war of independence against the monarchical mode of the British metropolis .

A democracy

capacity of the sovereign people:

conditions of the Right to vote: to be able to vote in the United States, it is necessary to have American nationality, to have more than 18 years and to have its civic rights. The vote is universal direct for the representatives, indirect for the presidential elections (system of the Great Electors). The Abstention is calculated compared to all the potential voters and not only compared to the registered voters on the electoral rolls, as it is the case in France.
the private interests are represented by all kinds of lobbies energy of the defense of the environment to the port of the weapons ( National Riffle Association ).
financing of the campaigns: there exists a public finance for the presidential campaign, controlled by the Commission of the federal elections.

Separation of the capacities: it is guaranteed by the Constitution and its application is very strict. Thus, the president or the congress cannot abolish the capital punishment, decision which is spring of the courts and supreme court.
Countervailing powers: there exist parliamentary commissions which have the capacity to inquire into the acts of the politicians. These commissions are made up members of the two principal parties of the country. They have financial means the important ones and can hear persons in charge of high ranking, who testify under oath and in public. In May 2004, the Secrétaire with Defense Donald Rumsfeld was heard during more than six hours before a commission of senators then deputies to answer of the scandal of the Prison of Abu Ghraib. The heard person must answer all the questions under penalty of being marked of insult to the congress ( contempt off Congress ) and finding themselves in prison.
Independence of the Justice and importance of the right
Respect of the minorities by freedoms
Independent press and critical: the scandal of Watergate was revealed by two journalists of the Washington Post and led to the resignation of the president. Freedom of the press is suspended for the periods of war. The American newspapers can make their self-criticism: in June 2004, the NewYork Times published a leading article in which the drafting admits having disseminated information without checking them sufficiently, and even false news by making confidence with the furnished informations by the administration of the president George Walker Bush within the framework of the preparation of the war against the Iraq of spring 2003.

A federal country

Mistrust with regard to the central capacity
the Federalism
Direct democracy: popular Referendum of initiative

Executive power

See also: American Administration, President of the United States of America

The Executive power federal is composed of the president and its government (the American term administration is also used) composed of secretaries (equivalent of Ministre, which are each one in load of a department (a Ministère)). It is helped by various advisers (that the national security in general plays an important role among those) and organizations in particular PFIAB for the businesses of Renseignement.

Department of Agriculture ( Department off Agriculture )
Department of the War veterans ( Department off Veterans Affairs )
Department the Commercial ( Department off Trade )
Department of Defense ( Department off Defense )
Department of Education ( Department off Education )
Department of Energy ( Department off Energy )
State Department - department of the Foreign affairs - ( Department off State )
Department of the Habitat and the urban Development ( Department off Housing and Urban Development )
Department of the Interior ( Department off the Interior )
Department of Justice & Attorney General ( Department off Justice )
Department of Health and the Social action ( Department off Health and Human Services )
Department of the Internal security ( Department off Homeland Security )
Department of Work ( Department off Labor )
Department of Transport ( Department off Transportation )
Department of the Treasury ( Department off the Treasury ) - to see Albert Gallatin, 3rd Secretary

Governments George W. Bush I (2000 - 2004) and George W. Bush II (2004 - 2008)

Legislative power

The Legislative power federal is represented by the Congrès of the United States, which is made up:

of the Room of the Representatives of the United States
of the Senate of the United States

(not to be confused with the legislative assemblies of each of the fifty States)

Political parties

There exist today two principal parties, which alternate with the presidency since 1853:

Democratic party Democratic Party (introduces candidates starting from the elections of 1830)
Republican party Republican Party

Among the minor parties, one finds:

Left the reform Reform Party (whose candidate with the presidential election of 1996 was Ross Perot)
Parti libertarien Libertarian Party
green Parti Green Party
Parti Constitutionnaliste Constitution Party
Communist party the USA Communist Party the USA
Parti Pro Life strongly anchored in the religious tradition, this party is completely opposed to the abortion and flirte with the republicans and the whole of the " Joe six pack" who support the Republican party. These Joe six pack comes for the majority from the interior of the grounds what one calls The Country Side
Porto Rican independence Parti (Left Green) whose most known character is it Honorary president of the International Socialist, Rubén Berríos

Disappeared parties (having introduced candidates to several elections):

Left federalistic (present of the candidates until the elections of 1820)
Left democrat-republican
national Republican party
Left whig (present of the candidates starting from the elections of 1836)
Left anti-Jackson
Left freedom
Party the free ground

Recurring elements of the American policy

Policy relating to the Constitution

Constitutive federal state and States

The United States of America are a federation of States (fifty today). Each one of these States has a very important autonomy in the social domains, cultural, educational, economic, legal etc the federal government are sovereign as for the foreign policy and with defense like in the economic relations between the States.

The legislative power of the National Assemblies is very limited by the individual rights of the States. The government can only lay down orientations, to seldom impose its policy.

Civic rights

(paragraph to be written)

Treatment of the minorities

See also: Political Indian of the US government, Afro-American

Well before the Declaration of independence, the American colonists had started to push back the Indian tribes cleared territories. This policy will continue in the first years of the young republic with the creation of reserve S and the transfer forced of whole populations towards territories of the west. Today still the Bureau of the Indian businesses continues to ensure the supervision of the reserves, the inhabitants not having all the civil rights American. A contrario , certain tribes Indian benefits today from this situation to create establishments such as casinos, in States where this activity is illegal.

The Blacks imported of Africa for the colonial period and until the American Civil War had, in the States of the south, the statute of slave. The law of emancipation their, in theory, granted rights identical to those of the white citizens. In practice the States, in particular those of the South, maintained systems discriminatory until the Années 1960. As from 1973 the federal law imposed a system of “Positive discrimination” (known as Affirmative Action ) intended for the minorities, but especially for the Blacks, to enable them to make up for lost time accumulated in the educational and social fields. The range of this system was reduced to the beginning of the Années 1990.

Other minorities (ethnic or religious) made, or continue to make, the object of Discrimination S through quotas of immigration or treatment differences. Today the problem moves under the social angle with the rights of the homosexual communities.

Treatment of immigration

See also: Demography of the United States

The United States remains the first immigration country in the world by the number from abroad coming to be established on their territory.

The Office of American census indicates that in 2004,12% American population had been born abroad (34 million on a total of 288 million), which constitutes the highest rate recorded in 70 years. The active share of this immigrant population was of 7% (more than 21 million workers compared with 13 million in 1994), of which the half arrived at the United States since 1990.

Nearly 40% of these workers born abroad come from the Mexico and Central America, 25% of Asia (of which Filipino , the India, the China, the Vietnam, the South Korea).

One estimates between 9 and 12 million the number of clandestine immigrants living in the country, the fight against clandestine immigration is made very difficult by the enormous territories to supervise (3 200 km of Mexican border supervised per less 13 000 frontier guards who do not miss a material of monitoring: lanterns and projectors, binoculars of night visions, dogs, horses helicopters, etc). Approximately a million are intercepted each year in the four States along this border, but even more succeed in passing. According to the Spanish daily newspaper El País of the 1998 400 die drowned, victims of falls or shot down during the adventure which they call el sueño americano (the American dream), a million are held or expelled immediately, two other million return in their hearth once finished their work of seasonal worker, 200 000 others remain .

50.000 visas will be granted by the lottery of visas of immigrant for 2007 for people wanting to be established in this country, in addition to the traditional requests for visas.

70.000 refugees were taken into account by the Programme of reception and placement of the refugees in 2005, against 53 000 in 2004.

More than 565.000 foreign students study in the United States during the school year 2004-2005.

Air passengers

About thirty information are communicated: the civil statue and the address which are reproduced on the passport, the ordering of a tray meal based on a belief, the credit card number, etc.

Foreign politics

See also: Politics foreign of the United States of America

The American foreign politics is from now on that of a “hyperpuissance”. However, such was not always the case. The message of good-bye of George Washington warned the controlling futures of the United States against the temptation of the interference in the businesses of others.

If the president is the incarnation of the foreign politics, since it makes it possible the American nation to speak with one voice, if it states the orientations of this policy through “doctrines” (it is enough to point out the Doctrine Monroe, the Truman doctrine, or the Doctrine Bush), the latter is not the emanation of a single body. It is not the fruit of the work of a group which, only, would manage to formulate the integrality of a given policy. To apprehend the American foreign politics thus amounts taking into account a multiplicity of factors (psychology of the president, management styles, styles presidential) and especially the great competition which exists between the administrative institutions. Because the structure of the administration is not strictly speaking hierarchical, one does not find a decision-making process formalized and constant as one would see it in the French political system. The formulation of the American foreign politics is the resultant of a fierce competition between:

on the one hand, political actors:

the President
the Congress
several ministries (like that of Defense (and in its center possible divergences between civilians and soldiers) or of the Foreign affairs.

and, in addition, ideological debates between liberals, conservatives, Néoconservateur S, monks (liberal or preserving) and thinkers economic. It happens sometimes that one of the actors takes the step on the others, but one should not over-estimate the range of it nor the duration.

See also: Oppositions to the foreign politics of the United States

In a unipolar system from now on, the Anti-américanisme appears more virulent than ever. It will be noted however that the literature produced under Ronald Reagan, in particular in France, had similar accents.

Various doctrines

One can see several doctrines which were applied according to the times and the people to the capacity:

the Isolationism (republican of the Years 1920): doctrines Monroe (1823: “America with the Americans”), hostility with any European influence in America
the Messianism: the original intention is to export the American model. There exist two alternatives:

multilateral messianism (Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George Bush): collective security
unilateral messianism, in other words “armed wilsonism” (néoconservateurs, George W. Bush): by the force

the Pragmatism (Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon): the goal is to join any country if that is favorable to the American interests

Africa

The July 20th 2005, Washington announced, via the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the creation of a supplementary programme for the African continent . At the end of the congress of AGOA on the " Trade co-operation and economic between the United States and Africa subsaharienne" , the United States announced the creation of a " funds for the diversification of the economy africaine" . No amount is advanced, however according to Le Monde (July 20th, 2005), " with 3,2 billion dollars in 2004, the United States is the first suppliers of bilateral assistance in Africa ".

See too

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