Recently, the US federal government shutdown has made a great splash in international news. And while the shutdown was ended by a last minute deal between the Republicans and Democrats on October 16th, this issue is not resolved and hasn’t just been postponed to January 15th 2014. At that time, the same issues are likely to arise again as the Republicans attempt to re-open debate on Obama’s Affordable Care Act and larger fiscal issues.

This research paper explains the background of the shutdown, its domestic and international impacts and what’s next for the U.S. government.

Download the PDF here.