Introduction

Author(s):  
Michael W. McConnell

This chapter provides a background on the nature and limits of executive power under the US Constitution. It closely examines the constitutional text bearing on presidential power together with its historical context to discern its meaning and internal logic. It also cites the phenomenon of Donald Trump that made thinking seriously about the institution of the presidency more difficult than ever before as there has never been so polarizing a figure at the apex of politics. The chapter attempts to reconstruct the framers' design for the presidency based on the text they wrote, their experience of royal authority in colonial times, and the interpretative battles in the early years of the republic. It identifies the framers that wanted an effective president who would not be a king and points out how a republican executive was meant to function.

Leadership ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 174271502095408
Author(s):  
Sarah Chace ◽  
Benjamin T Lynerd ◽  
Adrianna DeSantis

Sensemaking is an ongoing act of constructing a reality to be interpreted. While numerous articles have explored the notion of sensemaking in organizations, far fewer have examined it through the empirical prism of an individual case of sensemaking, with the notable exception of Weick’s seminal contribution and formulation, “The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster” (1993). In this article, we seek to build on the literature of sensemaking in organizations by offering an analysis of the actions of former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, whose leadership interventions we interpret as efforts at sensemaking in the era of Trump. In this context, we focus on the US Senate as an organ of sensemaking established by the framers of the Constitution to be relied upon in times of disruption, confusion, and chaos—a check on presidential power established by the framers of the US Constitution to provide prospective sensemaking for uncharted waters. In analyzing the case of Jeff Flake as sense-maker, we rely on certain definitions of leadership embedded in the era of post-truth. We conclude that Flake’s actions may be seen as a distant mirror (to quote Tuchman, 1978) of Weick’s treatment of the storied smokejumper Wag Dodge—a sense-maker whose persuasive powers failed him in the moment, only to be viewed in retrospect as the one who paved the way forward toward survival in the midst of a “cosmological episode.”


1991 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hatchard

On 18 April, 1991, the Republic of Zimbabwe celebrated its 11th year of independence. Coincidentally, just a few months earlier, the 11th constitutional amendment Act was passed. This flurry of legislative activity was the result of a desire on the part of the government to develop a new constitutional structure rather than to remain with the constitution which was essentially imposed upon it by the British during the 1979 Lancaster House conference which eventually led to independence in 1980. The new constitutional model is of considerable interest as it is based upon those operating in many other African nations but, according to the Minister of Justice, is designed to provide safeguards on the exercise of presidential power and to avoid unnecessary conflict and division between the various branches of government. On several occasions, ministers have stressed the autochthonous nature of the new structure and some have indeed suggested that it might form a model for other African countries.It is the intention of this article to examine the legitimacy of these assertions by analysing both the new constitutional structure and its operation in practice. In order to assess the significance of these changes, it is first necessary to examine very briefly the Lancaster House constitution and constitutional developments in the early years of independence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1037969X2199747
Author(s):  
Jemimah Roberts

This article critically assesses a key question raised repeatedly during the tenure of US President Donald Trump – could (or should) the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution have been invoked to suspend him from office? Although moot in a practical sense following the 2020 US presidential election, exploring this question from an Australian perspective provides the opportunity to reflect on fundamental questions of constitutional design and the capacity of our own democratic institutions to respond when tested. The article suggests that the US experience with President Trump highlights some advantages offered by Australia’s parliamentary system.


Author(s):  
R. V. Yengibaryan

Introduction. The personality of any US president due to his enormous constitutional authority and the place in the government structure of the country has always been considered extremely significant, even if in reality he did not quite measure up to the high moral and political criteria that both voters and the international community wanted him to meet.Materials and methods. Various scientific methods such as comparative-legal, systemic and a number of others form the methodological and research basis of the article.Results of the study. The US President, who is also the head of the Federal Government, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the US Navy is not only the first executive person of the country, but also the leader of one of the two leading political parties with enormous political and moral impact on the whole country, and the entire world community. During his term in office as President of the United States, all America and the whole world watch him on television, read and hear about him almost daily. To some extent he sets standards for men’s official fashion and behavior in society and in the family, he is a epitome of virtue and justice. How successful he is in this capacity is another question, but the fact is that the world community discusses his actions, words and behavior, wants to be like him or, on the contrary, criticizes him and does not agree with him, and this is an undeniable fact.Discussion and conclusion. With the date of the next presidential elections approaching and especially in the midst of the presidential campaign a large number of popular scientific and other publications are published in the United States and around the world on the institution of the US Presidency, its amazing stability and the ability to effectively lead the most dynamic branch of the three powers provided by the US Constitution the executive power.


Author(s):  
Mark J. Rozell ◽  
Clyde Wilcox

Debates over the relative power of national and state governments have typically hinged on constitutional provisions. “The evolution of federalism in law” describes how, in the early years of the republic, the US Supreme Court played a key role in defining the nature and scope of the US federal system. It then outlines how judicial decisions of the twentieth century continued the expansion of federal authority. Although the national government has many tools to influence state policymaking and enact federal policy, US states retain important powers. For many Americans, the actions of state and local governments have a bigger impact on their lives than those of the national government.


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (04) ◽  
pp. 953-957
Author(s):  
Chris Edelson

ABSTRACT Although the US Constitution permits presidents to order the use of military force without congressional approval only in an emergency context, presidents since Truman—especially after 9/11—have unilaterally ordered the offensive use of military force without congressional approval. Unless Congress asserts its constitutional role, President Donald Trump could continue to draw on this precedent to claim broad discretion to order the use of military force.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-134

This section, updated regularly on the blog Palestine Square, covers popular conversations related to the Palestinians and the Arab-Israeli conflict during the quarter 16 November 2017 to 15 February 2018: #JerusalemIstheCapitalofPalestine went viral after U.S. president Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced his intention to move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. The arrest of Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi for slapping an Israeli soldier also prompted a viral campaign under the hashtag #FreeAhed. A smaller campaign protested the exclusion of Palestinian human rights from the agenda of the annual Creating Change conference organized by the US-based National LGBTQ Task Force in Washington. And, UNRWA publicized its emergency funding appeal, following the decision of the United States to slash funding to the organization, with the hashtag #DignityIsPriceless.


Author(s):  
Rosamond C. Rodman

Expanding beyond the text of the Bible, this chapter explores instead a piece of political scripture, namely the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Over the last half-decade, the Second Amendment has come to enjoy the status of a kind of scripture-within-scripture. Vaulted to a much more prominent status than it had held in the first 150 years or so of its existence, and having undergone a remarkable shift in what most Americans think it means, the Second Amendment provides an opportunity to examine the linguistic, racial, and gendered modes by which these changes were effected, paying particular attention to the ways in which white children and white women were conscripted into the role of the masculine, frontier-defending US citizen.


This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues), in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation), and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice--disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organizational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting and frank insights into contemporary issues that have hitherto often remained "unspoken" among the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguing strongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much wider international context that highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.


Author(s):  
Jens Meierhenrich

This chapter provides the biographical and historical context necessary for understanding Fraenkel and his time. The analysis is organized into three sections: his early years, the Weimar Years, and the Nazi years. In the first section, I trace Fraenkel’s upbringing in a secular household influenced by the so-called Jewish Enlightenment, or Haskalah; explore the origins of his life-long predilection for social democracy; and recount the intellectual effects of his military service in World War I. In the second section, I reconstruct Fraenkel’s education and socialization as a young lawyer and interpret Fraenkel’s most important Weimar-era writings. I explicate the roles they played in preparing the ground for the writing of The Dual State. In the third section, finally, I commence my analysis of Fraenkel’s Nazi-era thought and conduct up until his escape to freedom in 1938.


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