The structural transformation
of the American system
The presidency of Donald Trump has renewed rare debates in American politics about
the future of democracy, the constitutional state, and other elements of our country that
we have been taking for granted for a long, long time.
TEXT BY LUIS FLEISCHMAN
However, several important
developments in the last
few decades in American
politics that have trans-formed
the historical and
traditional character of the American
system and practice of government be-fore
Trump.
3 elements that have
undermined the system
There are three elements that have un-dermined
the system. The first is the
deterioration of the legislative power as
an arena of compromises and deliber-ation.
The second is the change in the
traditional features of American political
parties, and the third is the increasing
power of executive decision-making.
These three dimensions are interrelated.
Congress is supposed to be one of the
key components in the division of powers.
The division of powers is a mechanism
of limitation of absolute power. Con-gress
is also supposed to bring societal
TEEMA
12 | SAM MAGAZINE 3/20