Impact Of Intensified American Political Polarization Upon Its Democracy

In the past few decades,the United States has experienced a great deal of changes,among which the most prominent one is political polarization.Researches on it began from the late 20^th century that mainly focused on the definitions,manifestations,causes and effects in general.In this thesis,the author intends to do some investigations into the influence of American political polarization on its democracy through the analysis to its impact on the advancement for bipartisan system and public participation,on the discouragement to public opinion expression in the course of election,on the impediment of the government work efficiency in policy making,as well as on the destruction to judicial impartiality.In fact,American political polarization could date back to the time when the founders of the country exhausted to build the federal government which caused the division of the country for the first time that resulted in the occurrence of political parties.According to the1787 Constitution,American representative democracy is built on the basis of election by the public,and separation of powers which states the separate legislative,executive and judicial functions.However,the current American democracy has confronted the greatest challenge under the circumstance of fierce political polarization in the United States.The mutual veto between the president and the congress causes shutdown of the government and reduction in the number of policies and laws that were created during the president's term.At the same time,different partisan interests make it hard for the public to vote for their own right.Through the analysis of this thesis,the author concludes that American political polarization is a kind of erosion to its unique democracy,by which this thesis not only helps to deepen the understanding to the American political situation,but also helps to enhance the comprehension over American democracy.