United States Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name: United States of America

Type: federal republic; strong democratic tradition

Capital: Washington, D. C.

Political subdivisions: 50 states and the District of Columbia; dependencies include Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Wake and Midway Islands, Johnston Atoll, and Kingman Reef; under UN trusteeship Caroline, Marshall, and Northern Mariana Islands

Legal system: based on English common law; dual system of courts, state and federal; constitution adopted 1789; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday. Independence Day, 4 July

Branches: executive (President), bicameral legislature (House of Representatives and Senate), and judic ial (Supreme Court); branches, in principle, independent and maintain balance of power

Government leaders: Ronald REAGAN, President (since January 1981); George BUSH, Vice President (since January 1981)

Suffrage: all citizens over age 18; not compulsory

Elections: presidential, every four years (next November 1988); all members of the House of Representatives, every two years; one-third of members of the Senate, every two years

Political parties and leaders: Republican Party, P rank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., national chairman: Democratic Party, Paul G. Kirk, Jr., national committee chairman; several other groups or parties of minor political significance

Voting strength: 40% voter participation (1982 congressional election); 53.3% voter participation (1984 presidential election); Republican Party (Ronald Reagan), 59% of the popular vote (525 electoral votes); Democratic Party (Walter Mondale), 41% (13 electoral votes)

Communists: Communist Party (claimed 15,000-20,000 members), Gus Hall, general secretary; Socialist Workers Party (claimed 1,800 members); Jack Barnes, national secretary (1983)

Member of: ADB, ANZUS, Bank of International Settlements, CCC, CENTO, Colombo Plan, D \C, FAO, ESCAP, GATT, Group of Ten, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICEM, ICES, ICO, IDA, IDB—InterAmerican Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITC, ITU, IWC— International Whaling Commission, IWC— International Wheat Council, NATO, OAS, OECD, PAHO, SPC, UN, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

NOTE: The information regarding United States on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of United States 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about United States 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.