Editing Politics of the United States (section)

==Federal government==
{{Main|Federal government of the United States}}
{{See also|United States federal executive departments|United States Congress|Federal judiciary of the United States}}
[[File:Political System of the United States.svg|thumb|center|upright=2|[[Flowchart]] of the U.S. federal political system]]

The [[United States]] is a [[constitutional]] [[federal republic]], in which the [[president of the United States|president]] (the [[head of state]] and [[head of government]]), [[United States Congress|Congress]], and [[United States federal courts|judiciary]] share [[Separation of powers|powers]] reserved to the national government, and the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] shares [[sovereignty]] with the [[U.S. state|state]] governments.

The federal government is divided into three branches, as per the specific terms articulated in the U.S. Constitution:

* The [[Executive (government)|executive branch]] is headed by the president and is independent of the [[legislature]]. 
* Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress: the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. 
* The judicial branch (or judiciary), composed of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] and lower federal courts, exercises [[judicial power]]. The judiciary's function is to interpret the [[United States Constitution]] and [[Law of the United States|federal laws]] and [[Code of Federal Regulations|regulations]]. This includes resolving disputes between the executive and legislative branches.

The federal government's layout is explained in the Constitution. Two [[Political parties in the United States|political parties]], the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], have dominated American politics since the [[American Civil War]], although [[List of political parties in the United States|other parties have existed]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Alexander |date=2 March 2020 |title=The two-party system is here to stay |url=https://theconversation.com/the-two-party-system-is-here-to-stay-132423 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114220626/https://theconversation.com/the-two-party-system-is-here-to-stay-132423 |archive-date=14 January 2021 |access-date=22 January 2021 |publisher=The Conversation}}</ref><ref>Byron E. Shafer and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775–2000'' (2001)</ref>

There are major differences between the political system of the United States and that of many other [[developed countries]], including:

* an upper legislative house (the [[United States Senate|Senate]]), with far more power than is found in equivalent bodies in most other countries;
* a [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] that also has a wider scope of power than is found in most countries; 
* a [[separation of powers]] between the legislature and the [[United States executive branch|executive]]; and 
* a political landscape [[Two-party system|dominated by only two]] [[Major party|main parties]]. The United States is one of the world's only developed countries where all additional parties have minimal or nonexistent influence and almost no representation at the national and state level. Causes for this mainly focus on the [[Plurality voting|plurality]]-based [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post voting system]], used in most elections, which encourages [[strategic voting]] and discourages [[vote splitting]]. This also results in both major parties having multiple internal factions.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The [[Federalism in the United States|federal entity]] created by the [[U.S. Constitution]] is the dominant feature of the American governmental system, as citizens are also subject to a [[State governments of the United States|state government]] and [[Local government in the United States|various units of local government]] (such as [[County (United States)|counties]], [[US cities|municipalities]], and [[Special district (United States)|special districts]]).