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 the Congress (composed of Senate and House of Representatives ). If the majority in both chambers of congress and president belong to the same party, one speaks of unified government (German: "united government"). The terms divided government and unified government are also used in the United States to refer to governors and state parliaments .
description
Recent examples of this are the beginning and end of the term of George W. Bush . In the 2004 elections , however , his Republican Party won a majority in Congress. Due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, however, the problems of divided government did not become as clear as was the case, for example, under Bill Clinton from 1995 onwards. In view of the terrorist attacks and the national interest, there was largely a non-partisan consensus . There was also a divided government between 2007, when the Republicans lost a majority in Congress, and 2009, when they also lost the presidency to Barack Obama . In January 2011 there was again a divided government , as the Democrats lost the majority in the House of Representatives to the Republicans in the 2010 elections . This situation will persist after the 2012 elections as Obama was re-elected and both the House Republicans and Senate Democrats were able to defend their majorities. After the 2014 elections , the Republicans were also able to win a majority in the Senate. After the election of Donald Trump as president, the US had a “united government” again from January 2017, as its Republicans were also able to defend their majorities in Congress. As a result of the midterm elections in 2018 , however, a divided government came into being again from January 2019 when the Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives.
Since the electoral systems of the US states also provide for a separate election between the governor , who exercises the position of head of state or government at the state level, and the legislature , a divided government can also occur here if the governor and the majority in one or both chambers belong to different parties in the state parliaments. There is currently a split government in 20 of the 50 states.
The term is used in political science . The functional and structural division of tasks between the Bundestag and Bundesrat is sometimes described as divided government . In the French system of government one speaks of cohabitation .
Consequences
In the presidential system of government, parliament and government are strictly separated from each other. In contrast to a coalition in parliamentary systems, they form neither a unit of action nor a political actor. At the same time, the two powers are dependent on each other in policy-making. Due to the already complicated legislative procedure in the USA, sustainable regulations can only come about if the majorities in Congress and the President agree. In divided government, the institutional rivalries are intensified by party-political competition, which means that negotiations between different interests are promoted, but at the same time transparency is lost. It is therefore becoming more difficult for citizens to attribute political results to individuals or parties, which means that it is also much more time-consuming to obtain information about parties or candidates.
The need to negotiate with multiple actors with divergent interests makes the system more inefficient and ineffective, which risks making the system impractical. In the worst case, this problem develops to a standstill in which parliament and government block each other, which is called gridlock ("political jam") in technical jargon. This case occurs at the latest when there is a demand for a legislative agenda in the population, but this cannot be satisfied because no laws can be passed. Bills must be passed by both houses of Congress, at the state level by both chambers of parliament (only Nebraska has only one chamber) and approved by the president or governor. In fact, divided government has a significantly higher number of vetoes than unified governments. A presidential veto can only be lifted with a two-thirds majority. In the federal states, too, the hurdle to overriding a veto often lies with a two-thirds majority in the chambers of parliament.
Divided governments since 1901
The following periods in bold print each have a divided government . The brief period between the constitution of the newly elected Congress and the inauguration of the President of the United States is not shown separately in the table. The letters refer to the respective party that has a majority in one or both chambers of Congress, or which party is the president. D and a blue background represent the Democratic Party, R and a red background represent the Republican Party.
| Years | president | senate | House of Representatives |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1901-1903 | Theodore Roosevelt | R. | R. |
| 1903-1905 | R. | R. | |
| 1905-1907 | R. | R. | |
| 1907-1909 | R. | R. | |
| 1909-1911 | William Howard Taft | R. | R. |
| 1911-1913 | R. | D. | |
| 1913-1915 | Woodrow Wilson | D. | D. |
| 1915-1917 | D. | D. | |
| 1917-1919 | D. | D. | |
| 1919-1921 | R. | R. | |
| 1921-1923 | Warren G. Harding | R. | R. |
| 1923-1925 | Calvin Coolidge | R. | R. |
| 1925-1927 | R. | R. | |
| 1927-1929 | R. | R. | |
| 1929-1931 | Herbert Hoover | R. | R. |
| 1931-1933 | R. | D. | |
| 1933-1935 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | D. | D. |
| 1935-1937 | D. | D. | |
| 1937-1939 | D. | D. | |
| 1939-1941 | D. | D. | |
| 1941-1943 | D. | D. | |
| 1943-1945 | D. | D. | |
| 1945-1947 | Harry S. Truman | D. | D. |
| 1947-1949 | R. | R. | |
| 1949-1951 | D. | D. | |
| 1951-1953 | D. | D. | |
| 1953-1955 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | R. | R. |
| 1955-1957 | D. | D. | |
| 1957-1959 | D. | D. | |
| 1959-1961 | D. | D. | |
| 1961-1963 | John F. Kennedy | D. | D. |
| 1963-1965 | Lyndon B. Johnson | D. | D. |
| 1965-1967 | D. | D. | |
| 1967-1969 | D. | D. | |
| 1969-1971 | Richard Nixon | D. | D. |
| 1971-1973 | D. | D. | |
| 1973-1975 |
Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford |
D. | D. |
| 1975-1977 | Gerald Ford | D. | D. |
| 1977-1979 | Jimmy Carter | D. | D. |
| 1979-1981 | D. | D. | |
| 1981-1983 | Ronald Reagan | R. | D. |
| 1983-1985 | R. | D. | |
| 1985-1987 | R. | D. | |
| 1987-1989 | D. | D. | |
| 1989-1991 | George HW Bush | D. | D. |
| 1991-1993 | D. | D. | |
| 1993-1995 | Bill Clinton | D. | D. |
| 1995-1997 | R. | R. | |
| 1997-1999 | R. | R. | |
| 1999-2001 | R. | R. | |
| 2001-2003 | George W. Bush | R / D A1 | R. |
| 2003-2005 | R. | R. | |
| 2005-2007 | R. | R. | |
| 2007-2009 | D. | D. | |
| 2009-2011 | Barack Obama | D. | D. |
| 2011-2013 | D. | R. | |
| 2013-2015 | D. | R. | |
| 2015-2017 | R. | R. | |
| 2017-2019 | Donald Trump | R. | R. |
| 2019-2021 | R. | D. |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ James L. Sundquist: Needed: A Political Theory of the New Era of Coalition Government in the United States , in: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 103, pp. 613-635.
- ^ Morris Fiorina: Divided Government , Allyn and Bacon, 1996 ISBN 978-0321121844 , p. 85.
- ↑ Ulrike Ehnes, Patrick Labriola, Jürgen Schiffer: Political Dictionary for the Government System of the USA , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2001 ISBN 3-486-25750-1 , p. 170.
- ↑ Wolfgang Jäger: The President P. 151, in: Chistoph M. Haas, Wolfgang Jäger: Government System of the USA: Teaching and Manual , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007 ISBN 978-3486584387 .
- ↑ Chistoph M. Haas, Wolfgang Jäger: Government system of the USA: Lehr- und Handbuch , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007 ISBN 978-3486584387 , p. 467 ff.