There are many reasons for the gridlock in Washington. Some are recent developments, as the U.S. becomes more politically polarized. Others are structural, built into the American political system.
Regardless, the extreme paralysis that has recently become the norm in D.C. almost never happens in Western European democracies.
"You're asking: Do other democracies have this problem? And the answer is: Not many," says Jane Mansbridge, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Mansbridge just finished her term as president of the American Political Science Association.