Why government shutdowns seem to be a uniquely American problem

The US government has now shut down eleven times over the past 40-plus years.

Meanwhile, in other countries, governments keep functioning, even in the midst of wars and constitutional crises.

So why does this uniquely American phenomenon keep happening?

America’s federal system of government allows different branches of government to be controlled by different parties – a structure devised by the nation’s founders to encourage deliberation.

That was until 1980. A narrow interpretation of the 1884 Anti-Deficiency Act, during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, banned the government from entering into contracts without congressional approval. This took took a much stricter view: no budget, no spending.

That interpretation has set the US apart from other non-parliamentary democracies.

Now in the US, warring political parties seem all-too willing to use the day-to-day functioning of the government as a bargaining chip to extract demands from the other side.