Divided government

Under divided government ( German " divided government " ) refers to the disintegration of the party affiliation of the American president and the party affiliation of the majority of Congress ( consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives ). Those majorities in both chambers of Congress and President of the same party, so we speak of unified government ( German: " unified government "). The concept of divided government is also in the U.S. states in terms of governor and federal state parliaments application.

Description

Recent examples are the beginning and end of the term of George W. Bush. In the 2004 elections, but his Republican Party won control of Congress. Due to the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, however, the problems of divided government were not so clear, as for example under Bill Clinton was the case from 1995. In light of the terrorist attacks and overall national interest, there was a largely party consensus. Between 2007, when the Republicans lost the majority in Congress, and the year 2009, when they lost the presidency of Barack Obama, there was a divided government. Since January 2011, there is again a divided government because the Democrats lost in the elections of 2010, the majority in the House of Representatives to the Republicans. Even after the elections of 2012, this situation persists, as Obama was reelected and Republicans in both the House and the Democrats were able to defend their majorities in the Senate.

Since the electoral systems of the U.S. states also provide for a separate election between Governor who exercises the position of State and Government at the state level, as well as the legislature, a divided government can therefore also occur here, if the governor and the majority in one or both chambers the federal state parliaments of different parties belong.

The term is used in political science use. The functional and structural division of responsibilities of government and are sometimes described as divided government. In the French system of government is called cohabitation.

In practice, a " divided government " bring the state level, significant political consequences for both the federal and. These include in particular a slowing or complicating the legislative process to understand, down to zero if the parties can not agree. Bills need of both houses of Congress, at the state level of both chambers of parliament ( only Nebraska has only one chamber ), are adopted and approved by the President or Governor. A presidential veto can be aufgeboben a two-thirds majority. Even in the states is often the hurdle for overruling a veto with a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary chambers.

Examples since 1901

In the following bold periods each one divided government was present. The letters refer to the respective party has in one or both chambers of Congress by a majority, or which party is the President. D and a blue background stands for the Democratic Party, R and a red background for the Republican Party.