Power, Rhetoric, and the State: A Theory of Presidential Legitimacy

1988 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwight G. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Presidential Power ◽  
National Authority ◽  
Gettysburg Address ◽  
War Power ◽  
Presidential Legitimacy ◽  
American State

Most studies of presidential power assume that legitimacy is derived from the Constitution. This essay argues that presidents can become authors of their own legitimacy, whether understood in normative or behavioral terms. Specifically, the thesis is that presidential assertions of power, cloaked in an antipower rhetoric which formally honors the dominant values of the culture, have created an American state that has served as an extraconstitutional source of presidential legitimacy. It is widely believed that American constitutionalism undermined the state by destroying sovereignty. Lincoln's interpretation and use of the war power, however, denned a supreme national authority located in the presidency. In addition, his Gettysburg Address provided a paradigmatic metaphor for concealing presidential power rhetorically. Subsequent presidents have taken advantage of both effects by attempting to assert power as revolutionary principle. Linguistically, these concealments are reflected in tropes which constitute legitimizing defenses for exercise of extraordinary power.

A “Right Not to Starve”

2019 ◽  
pp. 252-274
Author(s):  
Sylvie Laurent
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The State ◽  
Welfare Rights ◽  
The New Deal ◽  
American State

This chapter will address King’s reasoning on the role and purpose of the modern American state in guaranteeing economic security and wellbeing for all. King argued, like welfare rights activists, that these were fundamental social obligations to the state. This chapter will show how his Scandinavian- inspired proposals demonstrate that King was willing to build on the New Deal

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 330-338
Author(s):  
Mark Somos
Keyword(s):  
American Revolution ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
History Of ◽  
American State

The conclusion reviews the book’s claims, methods and sources, and summarizes the book’s conclusions concerning the stages and mechanisms in the evolution of the distinct American state of nature discourse. Placing the American state of nature discourse in its broader intellectual and chronological context, and comparing the state of nature to property and liberty as a fundamental and orientational concept for the colonists, the chapter asserts that without due attention to the state of nature discourse, no history of the American Revolution and early constitutional design can be written.

scholarly journals The State, Specially the American State, Psychologically Treated.

1903 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
F. C. French ◽  
Denton J. Snider
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
American State

Single-Member Districts and the Representation of Women in American State Legislatures: The Effects of Electoral System Change

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. King
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
System Change ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Election Results ◽  
American State

This study assesses the effects of changing electoral structure on the representation of women in American state legislatures. Specifically, how does converting from multimember districts (MMDs) to single-member districts (SMDs) affect the proportion of women serving in the state legislature? I use a quasi-experimental design, comparing election results from the four states that eliminated MMDs during the reapportionment following the 1990 census to those in eight states whose systems did not change during this period. The weight of the evidence suggests that abandoning MMDs for SMDs decreases the representation of women in state legislatures.

scholarly journals The Imperial Republic and Pax-Americana: State Formation, Inequality, and the New American Way of War

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 366-389
Author(s):  
Scott Timcke
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Arbitrary Rule ◽  
American Way ◽  
American State

This article plots the complex historical interplay between state formation and militarized technology. What emerges is a portrayal of distributional consequences of particular means of rule and particular modes of warfare. I apply this framework to the New American Way of War, demonstrating that it structurally contributes to the widening economic inequality currently being experienced in the United States. In state formation literature, inequality is partly caused by how key technologies are militarized and deployed by the state for internal and/or external state building. Thus, inequality is the result of how the employment of particular kinds of military technologies affects the emergence and distribution of economic resources under different political regimes. By inference, the degree of inequality is a by-product of a state’s means of rule. Hence, prior to the redistribution of wealth and economic chances by various state institutions, particular kinds of states are historically endowed with a predisposition to create and solidify social stratification. I offer a critical engagement with the new American Way of War through the lens of the means of rule. In my case study, I argue that due to technological choices, the American state no longer needs to be accountable to citizens or its subject population as a whole. In short, the American state can afford to disengage itself from wider negotiation and bargaining with its subjects. From the state’s perspective, there is nothing these subjects offer to accent the current military capacity attuned to a particular military strategy. Simply, there is very little these subjects have that the state requires. Subsequently, if the current American Way of War continues, it is likely that arbitrary rule, militarization, and wide inequality will be the order of the day irrespective of who the particular governors happen to be.

Weak State, Strong State, Deep State

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Stephen Skowronek ◽  
John A. Dearborn ◽  
Desmond King
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Deep State ◽  
National Power ◽  
Scholarly Discussion ◽  
First Time ◽  
American State

The most pressing reason to revive scholarly discussion of the state in America is that, for the first time, everyone else is talking about it quite candidly. Trump’s assault on the “Deep State” has pulled that old chestnut front and center. But as many researchers have shown, the American state defies easy characterization. Some describe it as a “weak state” because of the constitutional fragmentation of authority, the divisions of national power among three branches and between the national and state governments vertically. Others describe it as a “strong state” for its proven capacities to release social energies and deploy resources under pressure. The weak/strong debate has turned on the most exceptional features of the American state. This chapter reconfigures that debate around attributes of depth, and it brings to the fore issues that the modern American state shares with all others.

scholarly journals No Strength in Numbers: The Failure of Big-City Bills in American State Legislatures, 1880–2000

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 663-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERALD GAMM ◽  
THAD KOUSSER
Keyword(s):  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Big City ◽  
Big Cities ◽  
American State

Do big cities exert more power than less populous ones in American state legislatures? In many political systems, greater representation leads to more policy gains, yet for most of the nation's history, urban advocates have argued that big cities face systematic discrimination in statehouses. Drawing on a new historical dataset spanning 120 years and 13 states, we find clear evidence that there is no strength in numbers for big-city delegations in state legislatures. District bills affecting large metropolises fail at much higher rates than bills affecting small cities, counties, and villages. Big cities lose so often because size leads to damaging divisions. We demonstrate that the cities with the largest delegations—which are more likely to be internally divided—are the most frustrated in the legislative process. Demographic differences also matter, with district bills for cities that have many foreign-born residents, compared with the state as a whole, failing at especially high rates.

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