The United States is the second largest democracy in the world and comes after the democracy of India in size. American political system is considered to be one of the strongest political hierarchies in the world and it works as per the basic documents of the constitution. America is an independent political entity and works on the structure of a federal system. The principle of ‘separation of powers’ is followed by the political system of America and its political hierarchy can be defined as given below:
A) Legislative Level
This is the upper most level in America’s political hierarchy and basically deals with making of laws on which the nation and the rest of the levels of the system work. This level is divided into two main levels of the Congress that are known as the House and the Senate.
1) House of Representatives- This is the lower house of the legislative level and consists of a total of 435 members. Each of the members of this house represents a congress district and has a serving period of two years. The members of this branch are elected by voting system held within each state
2) Senate-This is the upper house in the legislative level and is the dominant chamber. The senate consists of 100 members and each of these members represents a state and has a serving time of six year.
B) Executive Level
This level of America’s political system is basically associated with enforcing laws. This is the level which consists of the Presidency, which is headed by the President.
1) The president-The President is the head of the state and the head of the government. He is also the military commander and the chief diplomat. The president has a serving time of 4 to 5 years. And cannot serve for more than 2 terms.
C) The Judiciary
The judiciary is that branch of the political hierarchy of America which deals with interpreting the laws and making sure that they are properly followed. This branch of the political system basically consists of the Supreme Court and the local courts.
1) The Supreme Court-This court is the apex court of the country and consists of 9 justices. Of these 9 justices, 1 is the chief justice and the remaining 8 are the associate justices. All the justices are nominated by the President and mainly deal with the matters related to federal government.
2) Courts of appeal
3) District courts