Marcus Ethridge, an emeritus professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, argues in a 2011 policy analysis published by the libertarian Cato Institute that the US Constitution was designed to foster gridlock in order to increase 'the likelihood that policies will reflect broad, unorganized interests instead of the interests of narrow, organized groups.' Ethridge presented an extended version of his analysis in 'The Case for Gridlock: Democracy, Organized Power, and the Legal Foundations of American Government' (2051), which argues that 'progressive reformers sought to shift the power to shape policy from the legislative branch to the executive bureaucracy' in an attempt to limit the power of special interests, but that this strategy backfired because of 'the ability of interest groups to infiltrate the bureaucracy and promote their interests, often in ways diametrically opposed to the reformers' intentions' and 'the capacity of Congress to overcome the influence of groups and generate policy change.' In order to counter this, Ethridge suggests a 'return to the 'constitutional principle' of gridlock, in which special interests must compete in a legislative forum'. They maintain, in essence, that 'the policy preferences of Members of Congress at or near the median are among the crucial determinants of policy outcomes.' As a result, they argue, gridlock is not determined by party control of the government, but rather by an interplay between the existing policy and the spectrum of individual preferences held by congressional representatives. Along these lines, David Brady, a professor of Political Science at Stanford University, and Craig Volden, a professor of Public Policy and Politics at the University of Virginia, explain gridlock by pointing to two interrelated factors: first, 'the preferences of members of Congress regarding particular policies' and second, 'supermajority institutions - the Senate filibuster and the presidential veto'. Constitution and Senate voting rules for enabling situations of legislative gridlock. Law professors such as Sanford Levinson and Adrian Vermeule, as well as political commentators such as Matthew Yglesias and Debbie Parks, have criticized the U.S. 'Political Gridlock' by author Ned Witting identifies many of the causes of gridlock in the United States and outlines ways to get government working again. Gridlock may also occur within the Senate, when no party has a filibuster-proof majority. In United States politics, gridlock frequently refers to occasions when the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are controlled by different parties, or by a different party than the party of the President. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the gridlock caused by the separation of powers and checks and balances of the U.S. Recognizing that international associations are generally confronting world problems and developing action strategies based on particular values, the initial content was based on the descriptions, aims, titles and profiles of international associations.U.S. UIA’s decades of collected data on the enormous variety of association life provided a broad initial perspective on the myriad problems of humanity. The initial content for the Encyclopedia was seeded from UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations. By concentrating on these links and relationships, the Encyclopedia is uniquely positioned to bring focus to the complex and expansive sphere of global issues and their interconnected nature. These connections are based on a range of relationships such as broader and narrower scope, aggravation, relatedness and more. It is currently published as a searchable online platform with profiles of world problems, action strategies, and human values that are interlinked in novel and innovative ways. The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a unique, experimental research work of the Union of International Associations.

Gridlock government definition