The influence of unified and devided government in the first term of president Barack Obama

The phenomenon of divided government belongs to one of the most discussed topics in contemporary American political science. The American political system experiences its unprecedented increase since the half of the 20th century, which is connected with the obvious interest in such an issue. Many authors reflect it as negative a priori, unless they would study the circumstances of its existence, influence on the system or differences between divided and unified conditions. David R. Mayhew as a first one systematically studied impact of divided government in comparison with the unified one. His theory and especially his conclusions, which claim the absence of fundamental difference in enacting important legislation between the conditions of divided and unified government, are theoretical basis for this work. This paper aims to evaluate first term of President Barack Obama from the perspective of Mayhew's theory, and try to validate his theses from the beginning of 1990s. Key Words: American Political System, Divided Government, Unified Governmnet, David R. Mayhew, American Presidency, Congress of the United States of America