USA Flashcards
Separation of powers
judiciary - supreme court: ensures the constitution is
followed
legislative - congress (house of representatives + senate) 435
100
passes laws, passes budget, scrutinises
government
executive - president and their cabinet: executive
orders, represents the USA abroad,
selects supreme court judges.
federal government powers
defence, international relations, immigration, postal service
E.g Barack obama Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) - 2 year prevention of deportation for undocumented americans to allow for application for a green card
state government powers
conducting state elections, providing for public safety, health and welfare.
E.g california legalisation of marijuana for personal and recreational use
Participation in democracy
standing as a candidate - arnold schwarzenegger governor of california born in Austria
joining a political party - democrats, republicans
campaigning for a party - leaflets, badges, rallies
campaign contributions
↳ used majorly by obama
PACs/Political Action Committees - NRA: influence
legislation
Protesting - right to protest, March for our lives, BLM, abortion marches following the Texas Heartbeat Act
Voting - State government, congress reps, president
% in congress vs % total population
24% vs 50.8% - Women 11% vs 13.4% - Black 9% vs 18.2% - Hispanic 3% vs 5% - API <1% vs 1% - Native American
Unfair representation in US politics - reasons
Women are seen as ‘homemakers’ and mothers
↳ Hillary Clinton claims misogyny is why she lost
↳ Few women go into politics/it’s seen as a male job
↳ America seen as becoming “too soft and feminine”
↳ Yet to have a female president
Black and Hispanic candidates struggle to get votes
↳ Traditionally been poorly represented
↳ Some voters have less trust in black candidates
↳ Black politicians often require ‘black votes’
↳ Very few black republicans (Racism)
↳ Racism deeply entrenched in US society
↳ Slavery, Fake news/lies - E.g Trump
Why representation is improving
The 117th congress is the most diverse to date
More and more women are getting elected
↳ Far more women of colour elected
↳ Far more female democrats than republicans
↳ More women are standing as candidates
↳ Role models AOC, Kamala Harris
Black representation is rising
↳ Changes to electoral district boundaries have
worked in favour of black politicians as there are
now more areas of predominantly black housing.
Hispanic representation is improving
↳ Role models such as AOC
Economic influence
Majorly dominant capitalist system
↳ USD used as a standardized currency globally
↳ 2008 financial crash affected UK jobs and banks
Large export market for other countries
↳ Population of 329.5 million - many people wanting
imports
↳ In 2017, 17% of Scotland’s exports were to the USA
(£5.5bn)
Americans travel abroad
↳ Tourism industry is a large money maker - cafes, golf
↳ In 2018, American tourists spent £555 million in
Scotland
Military influence
The US Navy have bases worldwide
↳ countries can expect a swift retaliation
↳ ships globally - including Iranian waters
↳ April 2021 altercation - this proved useful
The US invests a lot in NATO
↳ The USA donates the most to NATO
↳ They pressure other countries to invest 2% of GDP
on NATO - especially germany
↳ Germany announced 113bn USD on Nato
The US has troops in many countries such as Turkey
↳ the removal of troops can massively affect a country
↳ 2021 removal of troops from Afghanistan left people
scared for their lives
Political influence
The USA is a permanent member of the UNSC
↳ Regularly use their veto
↳ Involved heavily in the decision making process over
syria
↳ Worked with Russia in 2014 to remove chemical
weapons from Syria
↳ This significantly reduced civilian deaths
The USA contributes to international organisations
↳ In 2020, Trump removed the US from WHO
↳ This cut WHO funding significantly
↳ In 2021, Biden rejoined and promised to spend $4bn
on vaccines for disadvantaged countries
Inequalities - Education
50% of school funding comes from local sales tax
↳ poorer areas have underfunded schools
↳ poorer areas tend to be more black and hispanic
↳ due to white flight
↳ In 2022, the white unemployment rate was 3.6%
the black unemployment rate was 6.8%
↳ Almost double
language barriers are a significant issue
↳ In 2018, 60.4% of Hispanic school children spoke a
language other than english at home
Inequalities - Poverty
Poverty can affect: health, education, criminality
19.5% of Black americans are in poverty (2020)
↳ Could be linked to crime
↳ 2018 - Estimated that black americans were
responsible for 33% of non-fatal violent crime
In 2020, about 3.4 million Hispanic families with a single mother were living in the United States
↳ 28.6% of these were in poverty
↳ Only having 1 earner decreases household income
↳ A lack of male role models can lead to boys joining
gangs
↳ In 2011, it was estimated that 46.2% of gang
members in the US were Hispanic
Inequalities - Healthcare
The USA does not have universal healthcare
↳ Health insurance is often a ‘work perk’
↳ Drug prices are unregulated
% without insurance (2021)
white - 7.5
black - 11.8
hispanic - almost a quarter
Tackling inequalities - Education
2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
↳ $98 billion for education-related grant programs
↳ 2010: $10 billion for education related jobs
↳ Aimed to train and hire new teachers
↳ Aimed to improve overall schooling
1968: Bilingual Education Act
↳ The act has been in place for decades
↳ It offers funding for schools teaching in 2 languages
↳ The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) prevented
bilingual students learning in a different
environment to native english speakers
Schools are still funded in the same way
Tackling inequalities - Poverty
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
↳ $20bn for the supplemental nutrition assistance
programme (SNAP)
↳ Unemployment benefits increased by $25 a week
↳ $250 social security payment
The bill has made some improvements but…
↳ It is still incredibly difficult to escape poverty
↳ Education issues still lead to poverty
↳ Black unemployment rates still far higher
