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The Exercise of Executive Authority

Richard Caplan

in International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction

The extraordinary power available to international authorities raises questions about the effectiveness and appropriateness of seeking to impose outcomes and the implications of these actions for the ... More

The extraordinary power available to international authorities raises questions about the effectiveness and appropriateness of seeking to impose outcomes and the implications of these actions for the development of local political culture and institutions. Examines the opportunities and limitations of rule by decree—with special reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina—and discusses the considerations that ought to govern the exercise of international authority. Observes that the heavy-handed approach to governance may not always be successful: it can generate a popular backlash against transitional administrators and inhibit the development of autonomous political capacity. However, without broad authority international administrators maybe frustrated in their efforts to achieve the aims of their mandates.Less

Evolving Executive Authority in Anglo-American Democracy: Coping with Leadership Dispersal

Erwin C. Hargrove

in Dispersed Democratic Leadership: Origins, Dynamics, and Implications

Democracy proliferates offices and public leadership which vy for prominence and legitimate traditional executive authority. This chapter explores the leadership efforts of successive heads of ... More

Democracy proliferates offices and public leadership which vy for prominence and legitimate traditional executive authority. This chapter explores the leadership efforts of successive heads of government and their effect on the executive leadership of their own countries. An example is provided which contrasts the traditional conceptions of executive authority in America and the United Kingdom to the new theories and practices which are thought to have superseded or threaten to replace dominating concepts. A bird's eye view of political leadership in both countries is provided by looking into the instincts, predicaments, and achievements of government leaders who served after World War II. The chapter does so through the lens of two ideal-typical models of executive leadership — the collegial and the dominant executive — each of which captures the core features and inner logic of each set of arrangements.Less

The Ambivalence of Executive Power in Canada

Lorne Sossin

in The Executive and Public Law: Power and Accountability in Comparative Perspective

There are two central issues that are addressed in this chapter. First, the scope of executive authority in Canada is examined. In this regard, two distinctive challenges are elaborated which arise ... More

There are two central issues that are addressed in this chapter. First, the scope of executive authority in Canada is examined. In this regard, two distinctive challenges are elaborated which arise when demarcating the scope of executive power in Canada. Both relate to questions of intra-executive relations and the tension between independence and interdependence within the organs of government which constitute the executive branch. First, this chapter briefly explores the interdependent relationship between the political executive and the civil service. Second, it examines the relationship between the executive and quasi-independent administrative agencies, boards, and tribunals. The second part of this chapter explores how executive authority is held to account in Canada and evaluates the effectiveness of the Canadian constitutional system in that regard. Specifically, this chapter explores the role of judicial review in this regard (including the courts' advisory functions to the executive) and the role of federalism.Less

The General Prosecutor between the Judicial and Executive Authorities

Abdallah Khalil

in Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

With the establishment of the mixed courts in 1875, Egypt became the first Arab country to incorporate the office of the general prosecutor into its legal system. Since then, that office has been ... More

With the establishment of the mixed courts in 1875, Egypt became the first Arab country to incorporate the office of the general prosecutor into its legal system. Since then, that office has been trapped between the executive and the judicial authority and has lacked real independence from the ministry of justice. This chapter traces the historical evolution of the role of the general prosecutor in Egypt and the office's relation to the executive power since its introduction. It clarifies the relevant laws and related developments of the office in an effort to reveal how the relationship has evolved, giving concrete examples of lack of independence. The 2006 amendment of Law 46/1972 only partially improved the independence of the Office of Public Prosecution from the executive authority. While the Office of Public Prosecution is considered part of the judiciary, it maintains close links with the executive power legally and politically.Less

Continuity and Flexibility: Executive Power in Australia

Simon Evans

in The Executive and Public Law: Power and Accountability in Comparative Perspective

The Australian experience with executive power demonstrates one of the familiar tensions inherent in constitutionalism, namely, the tension between continuity and flexibility. The Westminster system ... More

The Australian experience with executive power demonstrates one of the familiar tensions inherent in constitutionalism, namely, the tension between continuity and flexibility. The Westminster system of responsible government may have been more or less appropriate for the United Kingdom at the end of the nineteenth century. Australia at the start of the twenty-first century was dramatically different. This chapter attempts to address the weakness of parliamentary accountability and its inability to provide rectification of individual grievances. The remainder of this chapter considers the scope of executive authority and the mechanisms for holding its exercise to account that presently operate in Australia. It focuses principally on the Commonwealth position, noting the State position only where it diverges significantly. The system of responsible government is also described in various ways. At its most abstract, the system contains principles identifying who exercises executive power and principles relating to accountability for its exercise.Less

Judges and Acts of Sovereignty

Mohamed Maher Abouelenen

in Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

The legislature has intervened to withdraw some kinds of cases from judicial control by designating them as involving political acts or acts of sovereignty. These concepts mean that certain actions ... More

The legislature has intervened to withdraw some kinds of cases from judicial control by designating them as involving political acts or acts of sovereignty. These concepts mean that certain actions are not subject to judicial control not only because it would be difficult for the judiciary to deal with such issues but also in order to allow the executive authority to exercise a broader discretionary power. Despite the wide range of judicial control over all activities exercised by the modern state, many of the practices of the executive authority in Egypt are not included in the jurisdiction of the judiciary. Such actions are known as ‘acts of sovereignty’ or ‘political acts’ in Egypt. This chapter presets the position of administrative and constitutional judges on this notion of acts of sovereignty in Egyptian history.Less

The Development of Relations between the Mixed Courts and the Executive Authority in Egypt (1875–1904)

Isabelle Lendrevie-Tournan

in Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

This chapter focuses on the beginning of the mixed courts (1875–1904). During this period, these new “Egyptian” mixed jurisdictions went through multiple crises, notably the debt of the Egyptian ... More

This chapter focuses on the beginning of the mixed courts (1875–1904). During this period, these new “Egyptian” mixed jurisdictions went through multiple crises, notably the debt of the Egyptian state in 1876 and the ‘Orabi Revolution in 1881, which provoked the 1882 British Occupation. This chapter shows how until 1904, the mixed courts resisted executive authority, at first from the khedive and then from the occupying British power. It next discusses the consequences of this judicial independence and then considers the conflicting relations between the executive authority and these mixed jurisdictions by examining lawsuits with political overtones that occurred starting in 1876, virtually from the beginning of these courts. These lawsuits raised a number of issues, including the viability of control by civil judges over administrative and legislative acts taken by the khedival government.Less

The Government's Non-execution of Judicial Decisions

Nagad Mohamed El-Borai

in Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

Egypt has seen an increase in the phenomenon of non-execution of judicial decisions, particularly since the 1980s. The origin of this phenomenon was the creation of the State Council in 1946. The ... More

Egypt has seen an increase in the phenomenon of non-execution of judicial decisions, particularly since the 1980s. The origin of this phenomenon was the creation of the State Council in 1946. The council was granted the legal capacity to void administrative decisions that violated legislative provisions or had been adopted following an abuse of power. Non-execution of judicial rulings is a sign of diminished respect for the judiciary by the executive authority. Egyptian citizens have come to believe that respect for their rights requires gaining the consent of the executive authority and that it is useless to try through legal means to compel that authority to enforce judicial decisions. Governmental bodies can be held liable for non-execution of judicial rulings because they hold the instruments of execution. This chapter presents different forms of non-execution of judicial decisions before giving some examples and considering the legal effects of the practice.Less

The evolution of federalism and executive power in Canada and Australia

Anthony M. Sayers and Andrew C. Banfield

in Federal Dynamics: Continuity, Change, and the Varieties of Federalism

Canada and Australia share a common institutional legacy, with constitutions that combine the power distributing impulse of federalism with the concentration of authority associated with ... More

Canada and Australia share a common institutional legacy, with constitutions that combine the power distributing impulse of federalism with the concentration of authority associated with parliamentary government. But the two federations have experienced sharply different historical trajectories, with Canada decentralizing while Australia has centralized. This instituional divergence in part reflects distinctive patterns in negotiating executive authority across the federal divide. Canadians have relied upon the high stakes, episodic intergovernmental relations of executive federalism, more open to radical shifts in both direction and momentum. Australians have experienced more regularized intergovernmental and inter-institutional path-dependent forms of negotiation as seen in the Council of Australian Governments and the Senate. As a result, the federal balance of executive authority appears contested in Canada, but relatively settled in Australia.Less

Introduction: The Title Controversy and the Early Presidency

Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon

in For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789

This book examines the presidential title controversy as well as the dispute's role in public acceptance of the presidency and its effect on an emerging understanding of executive leadership in the ... More

This book examines the presidential title controversy as well as the dispute's role in public acceptance of the presidency and its effect on an emerging understanding of executive leadership in the United States. The presidential title controversy formally began in Congress on April 23, 1789, with Senator Richard Henry Lee's motion for a titles committee. The question of an executive title would occupy the Senate and House in acrimonious deliberations for the next three weeks. The dispute was triggered by George Washington's inauguration on April 30 and the pressure that both houses of Congress felt to pen replies to his inaugural address. On May 14, the Senate agreed to the address of “President of the United States.” This book explores how constitutionalism intertwined with the influences of both elitism and popular culture and situates the title controversy within discussions of the consolidation and expansion of executive authority in the early Republic.Less

Protecting the Presidency: A Republican Dilemma

Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon

in For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789

This chapter examines how different attitudes about the vigor of the presidency created a republican dilemma for Congress and the American people as they tried to find the best way to ensure ... More

This chapter examines how different attitudes about the vigor of the presidency created a republican dilemma for Congress and the American people as they tried to find the best way to ensure executive authority without undermining egalitarian ideals. Ratification era debates over the Constitution's brief outline of the presidency reveal an emerging protectiveness toward the Republic's new leader. When members of the First Federal Congress assembled in the spring of 1789, debates about the country's new executive were still largely unresolved. This chapter considers two different but equally republican perspectives that came to be associated with the movement for a grand presidential title: one against monarchy and a tyrant's usurpation of individual rights, and the other against aristocratic oligarchy and the self-interested few who would corrupt a nation's leader to the detriment of individual rights. It explores the presidential title question in relation to “aristocracy” and federal elitism and how it became a republican dilemma for the country's new federal senators and representatives.Less

Civil Rights Law and Policy Drifts: Pay Equity and LGBT Employment

Norma M. Riccucci

in Policy Drift: Shared Powers and the Making of U.S. Law and Policy

This chapter examines policy drifts in the area of civil rights. It begins with a brief review of the specific legal protections advanced for women and people of color since Reconstruction. It then ... More

This chapter examines policy drifts in the area of civil rights. It begins with a brief review of the specific legal protections advanced for women and people of color since Reconstruction. It then examines the politics surrounding efforts to restrict and then restore those rights for equitable pay for women. This chapter also examines efforts to pass a civil rights law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees, formally known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In particular, it illustrates how President Obama initiated a number of important policy drifts in the area of LGBT employment rights. The protection of LGBT individuals has been considered the new civil rights issue.Less

Constitutional Reform and the Crown

Rodney Brazier

in The Nature of the Crown: A Legal and Political Analysis

This chapter desribes the impact of constitutional reform on the status of the Crown in Great Britain. It explains the distinction between three types of prerogative powers, which are the Queen's ... More

This chapter desribes the impact of constitutional reform on the status of the Crown in Great Britain. It explains the distinction between three types of prerogative powers, which are the Queen's constitutional prerogatives, the legal prerogatives, and those prerogatives that provide ministers with executive authority. It suggests that one of the major results of reform was freeing the courts from inhibitions that still surround judicial policing of prerogative authority.Less

A “Dangerous Vice”: Leaders under Scrutiny

Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon

in For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789

This chapter examines how federal leaders came under public scrutiny as Americans sought an ideal of executive authority that would remain anchored in popular sovereignty and yet be able to steer the ... More

This chapter examines how federal leaders came under public scrutiny as Americans sought an ideal of executive authority that would remain anchored in popular sovereignty and yet be able to steer the country to an eminence that matched its boundless potential. The Constitution and the governance it envisioned remained unproven in the spring of 1789, especially with regard to the protection of the people's liberties. The examples of conduct set by federal leaders influenced the consideration of political leadership within the public debate over executive titles. This chapter explores how leaders such as George Washington and John Adams provided the public with contrapuntal models that informed the discussion of desirable traits for a national leader. It shows how the presidential title controversy gave rise to the concept of an ideal national executive and established the fundamental cornerstones of American democratic leadership.Less

Conclusion: The Path to American Democratic Leadership

Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon

in For Fear of an Elective King: George Washington and the Presidential Title Controversy of 1789

This book has shown that the early Republic was apprehensive over the presidency and that attitudes toward the presidency remained precariously unresolved in 1789. It has examined how Americans ... More

This book has shown that the early Republic was apprehensive over the presidency and that attitudes toward the presidency remained precariously unresolved in 1789. It has examined how Americans sought a clearer understanding of their new national executive before they could accept the power implied by the office, even as the Constitution left too much unexplained about the country's singular central authority. It has discussed the ways that the presidential title controversy created partisan struggles over constitutional interpretations of executive authority. It has analyzed the legislative and public debates that came before Congress finally agreed with the simple title “President of the United States.” The book ends the discussion by reflecting on the legacies of the title controversy, including the emerging paradigm of energetic democratic leadership, the casualty of the presidency's professional relationship to the vice presidency, and the expansion and consolidation of executive power within the limits placed on the president under popular sovereignty.Less

External Enforcement

in Rules and Restraint: Government Spending and the Design of Institutions

This chapter, which investigates the effect of spending limits, supermajority voting rules, and executive veto authority on budgetary bargaining under exogenous enforcement, also considers both ... More

This chapter, which investigates the effect of spending limits, supermajority voting rules, and executive veto authority on budgetary bargaining under exogenous enforcement, also considers both perfect and imperfect enforcement, since each type sheds light on the design of budget rules. It shows the imperfect enforcement of legislative budget rules by addressing the impacts of delegation to an agency or court for enforcement. Centralized spending and decentralized projects induce preferences for inefficient pork-barrel projects. In a majority-rule distributive politics setting, the agenda setter exploits the legislature and secures a large, inefficient project for his district. The spending limit shrinks spending, as well as most projects, to smaller-than-efficient levels. Externally enforceable rules can theoretically be effective at limiting spending. Spending limits and supermajority coalitions have the effect of lowering spending and improving legislative welfare.Less

Abraham Lincoln

Steven G. Calabresi and Christopher S. Yoo

in The Unitary Executive: Presidential Power from Washington to Bush

In contrast to the previous chapter, this chapter presents the story of one of America's best presidents, Abraham Lincoln, whose administration clearly represented the pinnacle of presidential power ... More

In contrast to the previous chapter, this chapter presents the story of one of America's best presidents, Abraham Lincoln, whose administration clearly represented the pinnacle of presidential power during the first century under the Constitution. The exigencies of the Civil War demanded that Lincoln wield a range of powers the likes of which the country had never before witnessed, and many of his enemies accused him of taking on dictatorial or tyrannical powers. His strong presidency is ironic because he began his political career as a Whig and, like most Whigs in the 1840s and 1850s, had been opposed to a strong Jacksonian vision of the presidency. As Lincoln biographer Phillip Shaw Paludan reports, “Lincoln's roots were in a world where warnings against unrestrained executive authority were party gospel.”Less

The Making of Law, Policy, and Policy Drifts

Norma M. Riccucci

in Policy Drift: Shared Powers and the Making of U.S. Law and Policy

This chapter addresses the formal (i.e., constitutional) powers of the three branches of government. Theories of policy making, including the role of various players or stakeholders in the policy ... More

This chapter addresses the formal (i.e., constitutional) powers of the three branches of government. Theories of policy making, including the role of various players or stakeholders in the policy process, formal or informal, including the bureaucracy, will also be discussed.Less