The United States practices the principle of separation of powers and checks and balances. Legislative, executive and judicial powers are in the hands of Congress, the President and the courts respectively. When the three departments exercise their power, they contain each other and achieve power checks and balances. Congress has legislative power, the President has the right to veto bills passed by Congress, and Congress has the right to override the veto of the President under certain conditions. The president has the right to appoint senior officials, but it must be approved by the National Assembly, which has the right to impeach the president and senior civil servants according to law; Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President and approved by the National Assembly. The Supreme Court can declare laws passed by the National Assembly invalid on the grounds of unconstitutionality.
The United States is a federal country, a presidential system, a political system combining separation of powers with checks and balances, and a two-party political party system.
organizational form of political power
The United States has a presidential system, and the president is the head of state and government.
The United States practices the principle of separation of powers and checks and balances. Legislative, executive and judicial powers are in the hands of Congress, the President and the courts respectively. When the three departments exercise their power, they contain each other and achieve power checks and balances. Congress has legislative power, the President has the right to veto bills passed by Congress, and Congress has the right to override the veto of the President under certain conditions. The president has the right to appoint senior officials, but it must be approved by the National Assembly, which has the right to impeach the president and senior civil servants according to law; Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President and approved by the National Assembly. The Supreme Court can declare laws passed by the National Assembly invalid on the grounds of unconstitutionality.
State structure form
America is a confederate country. 1787 The Constitution of the United States of America changed the state structure into federalism. On the basis of establishing a unified federal regime, each state still retains considerable autonomy.
The Federation has the highest legislative, administrative and judicial organs, but it has a unified constitution and laws and is the main body of international exchanges; Each state has its own constitution, laws and government agencies; If the state constitution and laws conflict with the federal constitution and laws, the federal constitution and laws take precedence over the state constitution and laws. The Constitution of the United States lists the powers enjoyed by the federal government, such as taxing, borrowing, minting coins, maintaining the army, presiding over diplomacy, and managing interstate and international trade. Other powers not listed in the Constitution shall be reserved by the state government unless explicitly prohibited by the Constitution.
The power of the state is mainly to deal with internal affairs of the state, such as collecting taxes in the name of local governments, managing industry and commerce and labor within the country, organizing security forces and maintaining public order. In the past 200 years, the specific powers of the federal central and local governments have been constantly changing.
Elective system
The American presidential election is an indirect election system. First, voters in each state vote for their own electors (the number is equal to the number of members of parliament in their own state), and then the electors in each state elect the president and vice president at the same time in each state capital.
Members of parliament are directly elected. Representatives are directly elected by state voters; Senators were originally elected by the state legislature, and the constitutional amendment 19 17, which came into effect in 2003, stipulated that senators were also directly elected by state voters. In some states, governors, legislators, judges and important administrative officials are all elected by voters. Elections at all levels are generally arranged by two parties. In order to ensure the dominance of the two parties, the "single-name constituency system" and "majority representation system" are generally implemented.
Political party system
The United States adopts a two-party system. Although the Constitution of the United States does not stipulate the status of political parties, political parties are an important part of the American political system, and their influence permeates other political systems. The two-party system sprouted in the early days of the founding of the United States and was formally formed after the Civil War.
The main functions of the two parties are to manipulate and arrange elections, especially presidential elections. Democrats and Republicans have long alternated in power. There are other political parties besides the two major parties in the United States, but none of them can affect the position that the two major parties take turns to govern.
Civil rights system
According to the Constitution and laws of the United States, the power of the government comes from the people and ultimately belongs to them. The power of the government is not absolute, but limited by the Constitution and laws.
On the one hand, the federal constitution and laws stipulate that citizens enjoy personal protection, freedom of speech, publication, assembly, religious belief, private property rights and voting rights; On the other hand, it stipulates that Congress shall not enact laws depriving citizens of their freedom of speech, publication, peaceful assembly and petition, and shall not illegally search or seize citizens' persons, residences, documents and property, and shall not deprive anyone of his life, freedom or property unless due process is established according to law. In addition, the state constitutions and laws also stipulate the rights of citizens. In fact, the rights of citizens are subject to the property owned by individuals, and only the bourgeoisie can enjoy full freedom rights.
The federal legislature-Congress
The highest legislative body in the United States. It consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress exercises legislative power. Generally, a bill has to go through the procedures of proposal, committee deliberation and general meeting of the whole hospital. After the first hospital passed, it was sent to another hospital and followed the same procedure in turn. The bill is passed by the two houses and then submitted to the president for signature; If the president doesn't veto it, or if it is vetoed but re-passed by two-thirds of the members of both houses, it will officially become law. Congress also has other powers stipulated in the Constitution. For example, the right to declare war on foreign countries and amend the constitution. There are many committees in the two houses, and there are also joint committees composed of members of the two houses. Most parliamentary work is carried out in each Committee.
The Committee is divided into:
(1) The number of people in each congress of the Standing Committee is different, and the term of office of each congress is two years. The influential committees are: the rules of procedure of the House of Representatives, taxation, appropriations, military, judicial and diplomatic committees, and the Senate Foreign Affairs, Appropriations, Finance, Justice and Military Committees.
(2) A special investigation committee set up to deal with temporary or specialized issues.
(3) When it is necessary to make decisions related to the two houses, a joint committee shall be established.
(4) Mediation Committee, whose task is to draft a bill acceptable to both parties. Congress also has subsidiary bodies, such as the General Accounting Office and the Library of Congress.
senate
Treaties concluded by the president with foreign countries and senior officials appointed by the president must be approved by the Senate, which also has the right to hear impeachment cases and re-elect the vice president under special circumstances. Senators are directly elected by voters in each state, with two senators in each state, and the principle of equal representation in each state is implemented. At present, there are 100 members. An elected senator must be at least 30 years old, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years, and be a resident of the elected state at the time of election. The term of office is 6 years, and l/3 is re-elected every 2 years. The vice president is the ex officio speaker of the Senate.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives has the right to introduce financial bills and impeachment cases, and to re-elect the president under special circumstances. The number of deputies is distributed according to the population proportion of each state, and each state has at least 1 member. According to the 1929 seat allocation law, the total number of members of the House of Representatives is fixed at 435, and the seat allocation in each state is readjusted according to the population changes in each state provided by the Statistics Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Commerce every 10. Representatives are directly elected. They must be at least 25 years old, have been American citizens for seven years, and be residents of the elected state when they are elected. The term of office is 2 years and can be renewed. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is elected by the General Assembly of the whole hospital.
Long-term re-election of members of both houses of parliament is extremely common. Members shall not concurrently hold other government positions.
Federal administrative agency
Federal administrative agencies, also known as the Executive Department and the Cabinet Department. The State Council is in charge of the Cabinet, and the Secretary of State is the president's main diplomatic adviser, responsible for the overall guidance, coordination and management of American foreign affairs. He is also the highest member of the Cabinet and a member of the National Security Council.
The Cabinet Department implements the ministerial responsibility system. The Ministry consists of departments (bureaus) and departments. Generally speaking, the institutions within the Ministry are divided into two categories: career management institutions and organ management institutions. Due to the different historical development and responsibilities of various departments, the establishment of business management institutions in various departments is quite different. The management institutions of various ministries and agencies are basically the same, and generally have office affairs management; Personnel, budget, finance and public relations institutions, as well as the general counsel's office, the inspector general's office and local institutions that accept affairs within the scope of this regulation. Departments (bureaus) within the Ministry are led by assistant ministers (directors), and all localities are led by assistant ministers.
the State Council
The State Council is the executive branch of the federal government in charge of foreign affairs and some internal affairs. 1789 was reorganized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September. It is the earliest ministerial-level organ established in the American government and occupies a dominant position in all government departments. The chief executive of the State Council is the Secretary of State, who is appointed by the President (with the consent of the Senate) and is responsible to the President. He is the senior administrative official after the President and the Vice President. He is also the president's main adviser on foreign affairs, and the chairman of the cabinet meeting and the National Security Council. The State Council has the Deputy Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of State in charge of political affairs, the Deputy Secretary of State in charge of coordinating the security assistance plan, and officials such as the Deputy Secretary of State and the Assistant Secretary of State. The State Council has a huge organization with an office of the Secretary of State. The regional divisions are responsible for Africa, Europe, the Far East and the Pacific, Latin America, the Near East and South Asia, and the professional divisions are responsible for economy and commerce, intelligence and research, legal counsel and public affairs; There are many embassies, delegations, consulates general, consulates and missions to the United Nations all over the world.
The State Council's specific duties are: to be responsible for the network of American ambassadors and consuls around the world and foreign officials, to assist the President in signing treaties and agreements with foreign countries, to arrange for the President to receive foreign envoys, and to make suggestions to the President on recognizing new countries or governments.
American court organization
The United States is a common law country. The main characteristics of American judicial system are: implementing the principle of separation of powers and implementing judicial independence; The court organization is divided into federal system and local system; The Federal Supreme Court enjoys special judicial review power and so on. The judicial organization court is very complicated and divided into two systems: the federal court and the state court, which apply their own constitutions and laws and have jurisdiction over different cases and regions. In addition, the National Assembly has established special courts, such as the Federal Court of Appeal, through relevant decrees as needed. Judges implement an irreplaceable system, including full-time system, high salary system and retirement system. There is no unified administrative court in the United States; Administrative dispute cases are tried by ordinary courts, and independent institutions also have the right to accept and decide.
The procuratorial organs in the United States are no different from the judicial administrative organs. The federal attorney general is the minister of justice, the legal adviser to the president and the government, supervises the administration of justice, and represents the government in court and participates in litigation when the federal Supreme Court hears major cases. Prosecutors are led by the Ministry of Justice and subordinate to courts at all levels. Litigation procedure Civil litigation procedure adopts the debate system, with sole hearing; Some lawsuits, especially tort lawsuits, are decided by juries and decided by judges. The characteristics of criminal proceedings are as follows: the federal and some States retain the grand jury review system for felony prosecution; Illegally obtained evidence is inadmissible; Plea bargaining is widely used before trial; In defense, the plaintiff and the defendant's lawyer in civil cases, and the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer in criminal cases confront each other and argue. The judge does not take the initiative to investigate, but only plays the role of "passive arbitrator". Judicial review system, as a federal principle, was formally established, beginning with 1803 "Marbury v Madison" of the federal supreme court. On behalf of the court, Chief Justice J Marshall held that "unconstitutional laws are not laws" and that "the Constitution forbids all laws that contradict them", and explicitly declared that Article 13 of the judicial regulations promulgated by the National Assembly in 1789 was unconstitutional, thus establishing the authority of the court to examine the decrees passed by the National Assembly and gradually forming a judicial review system. This system has become a political means to maintain the ruling order and implement power checks and balances, and has been followed by many countries in the future. The judicial review power in the United States is exercised by ordinary courts, mainly the Federal Supreme Court. The way is whether the laws applicable to specific cases are unconstitutional, and the object of review includes not only the laws enacted by Congress, but also the administrative measures of the President.