TEFL in Adult Education: Culture File USA: Presidential Elections, Part 1

With the United States of America remaining a global super power and arguably the most powerful country in the world, presidential elections in the USA and their outcome potentially impact on geopolitics around the world and the global economy. Their significance warrants a closer look at the US political system and how it works.

The Federation and its government

As the name already suggests, the United States of America are a federation of fifty states, geographically located in the northern half of the Americas, extending from the Atlantic coast in the East to the Pacific coast in the west, sharing a northern border with its North American neighbor Canada and a southern border with its Central American neighbor Mexico. Each state is a sovereign jurisdiction with a constitution and a state government headed by a governor. (1)

At the same time, the states are represented in the Congress, a bicameral legislative institution consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The executive branch of the political system in the US is the federal government headed by a President. The judicial branch is represented by the Supreme Court, which oversees the dispensation of justice in the federal and state courts. (2)

Due to the provisions in the American Constitution, the Federal Government has limited powers. They include tax collection, provision of defense and declaration of war, currency creation and monetary policies, and the regulation of commerce, among others. (3)