United states

As the world’s biggest economic and military power, the United States is hard to ignore as a case in comparative politics. Its global reach means that its domestic decisions are of interest far outside its borders; the outcome of American elections and the policies of its presidents matter to friends and foes alike. And yet the United States can sometimes puzzle foreign observers, just as it sometimes puzzles its own citizens. Many claims are made for the democratic qualities of the American political model, and for the opportunities inherent in the American Dream, with Americans and their leaders routinely describing their country as the greatest in the world. The American system of government, though, is rife with structural problems, and the faith of citizens in their elected offi cials (and sometimes in each other) has been tested by deepening political, economic, and social divisions that government seems unwilling or unable to address.