American National Government: An Overview

Abstract

Power in American national government is decentralized, divided, dispersed, and limited. This distribution of power derives in part from the Constitution, through limitations imposed on the government, the system of checks and balances among the three branches, and independent bases of support and authority for each branch. The report discusses the U.S. Constitution; the separate institutions of the Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court; restrictions on serving in another branch; the independent electoral bases of the President and Congress, including each one's voting system; judicial independence; institutional supports; checks and balances and shared responsibilities in terms of lawmaking, national security policy, executive and judicial appointments, and criminal investigations; and the Federal Government's dispersed and decentralized organization. This report, which examines these characteristics, will be updated as developments require.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 20, 2003
Accession Number
ADA469035

Entities

People

  • Frederick M. Kaiser

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Congress
  • District Of Columbia
  • Elections
  • Executives
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Political Systems
  • President (United States)
  • Public Administration
  • Public Policy
  • Security
  • Supreme Court
  • United States

Readers

  • Criminal Law
  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.