POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Politics in the USA

258 The making of American domestic policy
nominator, and often deadlock. America undoubtedly has the most democratic
system of government in the world, but there is a price to be paid. The
system is constructed in a way that makes for the fullest representation of
the interests involved, but gives little room for the exercise of leadership in
any sphere of policy, with the exception of military power. Yet the social, economic
and diplomatic problems that face America demand continuing and
effective leadership. The challenge for the American political system in the
twenty-first century lies in the need to moderate the influence of pluralism,
and to devise a means of addressing those problems.
Further reading
Epstein, L. and Kobylka, J.E. (1992) The Supreme Court and Legal Change: Abortion and the
Death Penalty, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
McKay, D., Houghton, D. and Wroe, A. (2002) Controversies in American Politics and Society,
Oxford: Blackwell.
Peele, G., Bailey, C.J., Cain, B. and Peters, B.G. (eds) (2002) Developments in American
Politics 4, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Websites
The American Immigration Law Foundation: www.alf.org
National Immigration Law Center: http://nilc.org
Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General: A Performance
Review of FEMA’s Disaster Management Activities in Response to Hurricane Katrina:
http://www.npr.org/documents/2006/apr/katrina/dhsreport.pdf
Death Penalty Information Center: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
Global Security.org: www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/guantanamo-bay_x-ray.
htm