Cato Institute

The cult of the presidency; America's dangerous devotion to executive power.

The tenure of George W. Bush has many complaining about the imperial presidency, but according to Healy (a senior editor at the Cato Institute) it is hardly a new phenomenon in the United States. He argues that after 100 years or so of a limited presidency (in spite of the efforts of several self-aggrandizing chief executives), the Progressives worked successfully to centralize power in the executive, thus fashioning the "Heroic Presidency," which was to hold sway until Vietnam and Watergate prompted Americans to reclaim their heritage of skepticism towards power. It was to return however, this time thanks to the efforts of a conservative movement that abandoned its previous fear of a powerful executive, prompted in part by the "emerging Republican majority" in the Electoral College as of the mid-1970s. Finally, he describes how the September 11th attacks led to the triumphant return of the "Heroic Presidency" and the accumulation of enormous unchecked power in the hands of the president. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Smart power; toward a prudent foreign policy for America.

Noting a remarkable record of belligerence in recent US history, Carpenter (defense and foreign policy studies, Cato Institute) argues that American foreign policy is beset by three major problems: an unwillingness to terminate or reconsider the security obligations build up during the Cold War, a casual extension of security commitments to new client states that are even less relevant than the traditional Cold War-era allies to American security needs, and an increased willingness to intervene militarily in murky and often internecine conflicts. This demonstrates to Carpenter that the US foreign policy elite is unable to either establish proper priorities or to develop an analytical framework for assessing strategic choices. He applies this perspective to a number of significant foreign policy issues, including the Iraq debacle; the "War on Terror;" threatened war against Iran; broader Middle East regional issues; policy towards the Koreas; Taiwan policy; the relationship with China; NATO, the Balkans, and relations with Russia; the "War on Drugs;" and the relationship between foreign policy and domestic liberty. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)