KarakterløftetThe USA: Politics and Society
You will learn to explain the American political system – separation of powers, elections, parties – and discuss its current strains in historical context.
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Just enough theory to use it
The US political system is built on distrust of concentrated power. The Constitution (1787) establishes separation of powers: Congress (legislative – House and Senate), the President (executive) and the Supreme Court (judicial), locked together by checks and balances – vetoes, confirmations, judicial review. Federalism divides power again, between Washington and fifty states – which is why abortion, guns and voting rules differ state by state. Elections are distinctive: the President is chosen by the Electoral College, not the popular vote (hence a candidate can win the presidency while losing the count, as in 2000 and 2016), and first-past-the-post voting cements the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. The current strains you should be able to discuss: polarisation (parties as identities, compromise as betrayal), gerrymandering (drawing districts to pick your voters), voter suppression (rules that make voting harder for some groups), and a Supreme Court whose appointments have become partisan battles. For your exam: always link system to history (slavery and civil rights explain federalism's fault lines) and to current examples – and compare with the UK where the task invites it.
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