US Government and Politics
William Storey
Edinburgh University Press
Contents
List of Boxes viii
List of Tables ix
Introduction x
Part I: The Framework of US Politics
1 The Constitution – History and Key Features 3
The origins of the Constitution 4
How the Constitution was written 7
The ratiication debate: its advantages and disadvantages 10
The key features of the Constitution 13
Viewpoints on the effectiveness of the Constitution 19
2 Evaluating the Constitution – Race and US Politics 28
The impact of slavery and segregation 29
Responding to exclusion from society 33
The struggle for integration 35
Constitutional issues raised by the end of legalized segregation 40
The development of Affirmative Action programmes 43
Resistance to Affirmative Action 45
The current political debate on Affirmative Action 49
3 Interpreting the Constitution – the Supreme Court 62
The constitutional powers of the judicial branch of government 63
The organisation of the judiciary 65
How judges are appointed 66
The judicial process 71
The power of judicial review 72
The use of judicial power 77
‘Culture Wars’ 80
Prospects for the Supreme Court 82
Part II: The Limits of Federal Power – Federalism and Pluralism
4 Federalism 91
The states at independence from Britain 92
Federalism in the Constitution 94
The growth of the central government 97
Restoring powers to the states 105
Federalism in the twenty-first century 111
5 Elections 121
The Founding Fathers’ dilemma 122
The electoral system 123
Making the electoral system genuinely democratic 136
Concerns about the system: campaign finance 139
Concerns about the system: redistricting 147
Concerns about the system: participation 148
Elections in the twenty-first century 150
6 Political Parties 167
The emergence of two ‘umbrella’ parties 168
‘The party’s over’: the decline of political parties 171
Two ideological parties: the resurgence of political parties 173
Party supporters 192
Minor parties 196
7 Pressure Groups 205
Pressure groups and the Constitution 206
Influencing individuals and the local community 207
Influencing state governments 209
Influencing elections 210
Influencing the House of Representatives 213
Influencing the Senate 217
Influencing the White House 219
Influencing the Federal bureaucracy 220
Influencing the judiciary 221
The impact of pressure groups on the US political
system 223
Part III: Testing the Limits of Federal Power – the Legislature and the Executive
8 Congress 233
Congress and the Constitution 234
Congress and the presidency 236
Congress and the judiciary 246
Legislating: the process of passing laws 247
Representation: promoting the interests of constituents 257
Political parties in Congress 269
Evaluating the effectiveness of Congress 271
9 The Presidency – Domestic Affairs 280
The presidency and the Constitution 281
The President’s role as chief executive of the government 282
The President’s role as chief legislator 295
The President’s role as head of state 298
The President’s role as party leader 301
The Vice President 302
Evaluating the domestic powers of the President 303
10 The Presidency – Foreign Affairs 308
The presidency and the Constitution 309
The goals of US foreign policy 312
The instruments of US foreign policy 321
The impact of foreign policy on domestic affairs 323
Evaluating the powers of the President 327
Index 334
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