The Imperial Presidency
by
Arthur M. Schlesinger
From two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., comes one of the most important and influential investigations of the American presidency. The Imperial Presidency traces the growth of presidential power over two centuries, from George Washington to George W. Bush, examining how it has both served and harmed the Constitution and what Americans can do about it in years to come. The book that gave the phrase "imperial presidency" to the language, this is a work of "substantial scholarship written with lucidity, charm, and wit" (The New Yorker).
The Unitary Executive Theory : a danger to constitutional government
by
Jeffrey P. Crouch; Mark J. Rozell; A01
"I have an Article II," Donald Trump has announced, citing the US Constitution, "where I have the right to do whatever I want as president." Though this statement would have come as a shock to the framers of the Constitution, it fairly sums up the essence of "the unitary executive theory." This theory, which emerged during the Reagan administration and gathered strength with every subsequent presidency, counters the system of checks and balances that constrains a president's executive impulses. It also, the authors of this book contend, counters the letter and spirit of the Constitution. In their account of the rise of unitary executive theory over the last several decades, the authors refute the notion that this overweening view of executive power has been a common feature of the presidency from the beginning of the Republic. Rather, they show, it was invented under the Reagan Administration, got a boost during the George W. Bush administration, and has found its logical extension in the Trump administration. This critique of the unitary executive theory reveals it as a misguided model for understanding presidential powers. While its adherents argue that greater presidential power makes government more efficient, the results have shown otherwise. Dismantling the myth that presidents enjoy unchecked plenary powers, the authors advocate for principles of separation of powers--of checks and balances--that honor the Constitution and support the republican government its framers envisioned. A much-needed primer on presidential power, from the nation's founding through Donald Trump's impeachment, The Unitary Executive Theory: A Danger to Constitutional Government makes a robust and persuasive case for a return to our constitutional limits.
Comprehending Power in Christian Social Ethics
by
Christine F. Hinze
Christine Firer Hinze examines how socio-political power has been modeled in recent social theory and Christian ethics, and considers its theological and sociological underpinnings. The interaction of two models of power, "power over" and "power to" is traced in the works of selected religious (Reinhold Niebuhr, Jacques Maritain, Paul Tillich, and Martin Luther King, Jr.) and social (Max Weber, Karl Marx, Hannah ARendt, Michel Foucault, and Anthony Giddens) theorists of the past century. Hinze advances a constructive argument in favor of a theory that systematically integrates power's superordinating and collaborative features, and does so in a manner that coheres with the ethicist's underlying theological and sociological commitments. Appealing to a variety of warrants, she offers a comprehensive approach to power that takes "power to" as its descriptive and normative starting point and relegates "power over" to a limited and strictly instrumental role in socio-political practice.
Globalizing Justice: the ethics of poverty and power
by
Richard W. Miller
Combining deep moral argument with extensive factual inquiry, Richard Miller constructs a new account of international justice. Though a critic of demanding principles of kindness toward the global poor and an advocate of special concern for compatriots, he argues for standards of responsible conduct in transnational relations that create vast unmet obligations. Governments, firms and people in developed countries, above all, the United States, by failing to live upto these responsibilities, take advantage of people in developing countries.Miller's proposed standards of responsible conduct offer answers to such questions as: What must be done to avoid exploitation in transnational manufacturing? What framework for world trade and investment would be fair? What duties do we have to limit global warming? What responsibilities to help meet basic needs arise when foreign powers steer the course of development? What obligations are created by uses of violence to sustain American global power?Globalizing Justice provides new philosophical foundations for political responsibility, a unified agenda of policies for responding to major global problems, a distinctive appraisal of 'the American empire', and realistic strategies for a global social movement that helps to move humanity toward genuine global cooperation.