Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War -- American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia.”

The United States possesses the largest, richest economy in the world, a political system that broadly represents the people based on the rule of law -- and a national government that periodically shuts down.

We just completed the latest such ordeal. What gives?

The answer is contemporary intense partisanship dividing the two parties in Congress. This represents a dramatic change that began in Jimmy Carter’s administration and reflects a disturbing shift in the way we manage, or mismanage, our government.

In the Senate in September, 60 votes were needed to move essential funding legislation forward, and Republicans have 53 senators, with occasional defections from balanced budget hawks. The leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer of New York, decided to do party-line battle over the issue of health care subsidies.

By contrast, last spring he quietly aided a Republican spending vote. Ten Senate Democrats led by Schumer joined with Republicans to pass a stopgap budget bill on March 14. They feared delay could bring greater budget cuts.

Before 1980, expiration of appropriations did not disrupt government. Politicians worked things out.

During the Carter administration, curious Rep. Gladys Noon Spellman, D-Md., inquired about the 1884 Antideficiency Act, which prohibits spending public funds without congressional authorization.

Comptroller General Elmer Staats, head of Congress’ audit arm, responded with the opinion that Congress did not intend work to cease if appropriations ended. Nonetheless, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti disagreed. He declared agencies must close when funding ends.

Crises have regularly followed.

There were three shutdowns of the federal government during the administration of Ronald Reagan and one under George H.W. Bush.

In 1994, Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives after 40 years. Their majority was led by new Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia, who dramatically accelerated the trend of shifting that office from a relatively nonpartisan to highly partisan pulpit.

The federal government was shut down briefly. In the political and public media maneuvering, President Bill Clinton skillfully put the onus squarely on the Gingrich Republicans.

Publicly calm and cool, politically cunning, Clinton moved ahead in the public opinion polls. He was helped by emphasizing fiscal restraint. In the 1996 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan.

In 2013, Republicans shut down the government for 16 days as part of the effort to derail the Affordable Care Act. Then as before, Democrats led by President Barack Obama used the Republican effort for partisan political advantage.

The latest shutdown, also hinging mainly on the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare,” was the longest ever, at 43 days. Finally, on Nov. 9, eight Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to begin to end the ordeal.

President Donald Trump acted to see that active duty military personnel were paid during the shutdown, though some Pentagon civilian employees were not. Transportation Safety Administration employees who worked without pay during the shutdown will receive bonuses.

Schumer himself is under intense, complex political pressures. Along with strong partisan criticism for his own flexibility last spring, he faces a serious threat of a far-left primary challenger to reelection next year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also deserves credit for maintaining stability last spring, though partisanship is now his watchword.

Democrat Sam Rayburn of Texas was a remarkably successful House speaker, serving from the 1940s into the 1960s. He led the House in a nonpartisan manner. Rayburn remains the longest-serving speaker, reflecting truly exceptional political skills.

During the same era, fellow Texan Lyndon Johnson, as leader in the Senate and as president of the United States, demonstrated phenomenal legislative success, regarding health care, civil right and other matters.