Synopses & Reviews
Since September 11, 2001, long-standing debates over the nature and proper extent of executive power have assumed a fresh urgency. What is executive power? When did it first emerge, and why? And what is the role of the executive within the American regime? In this book, eleven leading scholars of American politics and political theory address these and related questions, in essays on topics ranging from Aristotle and the Roman Republic to the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Synopsis
Since September 11, 2001, long-standing debates over the nature and proper extent of executive power have assumed a fresh urgency. In this book eleven leading scholars of American politics and political theory address the idea of executive power.
About the Author
Hugh Liebert is the John Marshall visiting research fellow for 2009-10 at theJepson School of Leadership with the University of Richmondand is working on a book-length study of political ambition and its relationship to political form, expanding the themes of his dissertation and exploring the relevance of Plutarch's Lives to contemporary challenges in understanding the nature of leadership. His research interests include the history of political thought, theories of political ambition, nationalism and globalization, and ancient and modern political biography. During spring 2010, he is teaching a course on ancient and modern democracy. He has taught courses such as Introduction to Political Thought, Classics of Social and Political Thought, and Modern Political Theory: Liberal Democracy and the Birth of Economics at the University of Chicago and Furman University. Dr. Liebert received his bachelor's degree in social studies from Harvard University. He received his master's and doctorate in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
Gary L. McDowell is a leading constitutional scholar who joined the Jepson faculty in 2003 after a distinguished career in public life and the academy. Prior to coming to the Jepson School, McDowell directed the Institute of United States Studies and taught American studies at the University of London. He also served as a member of the United States-United Kingdom Educational Commission (The Fulbright Commission). Prior to his work in London, he directed the Office of the Bicentennial of the Constitution at the National Endowment for the Humanities, served as chief speechwriter for Attorney General Edwin Meese, and held various positions at Tulane, Harvard, Harvard Law School, and Dickinson. He was a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution and Bradley Resident Scholar at the Center for Judicial Studies in Washington, D.C. He is the author or editor of 11 books on subjects ranging from privacy to juvenile delinquency, politics, judicial power, and the Constitution. His newest book, published by Cambridge University Press, is The Language of Law and the Foundations of American Constitutionalism. He has appeared on NBC's "Today Show," CBS's "Nightwatch," ABC's "Nightline," BBC, and C-SPAN, and was a commentator on the PBS special reports "The Kennedy Confirmation Hearings" and "The Bork Confirmation Hearings." McDowell frequently lectures and participates in public events. He is co-director of the John Marshall International Center for the Study of Statesmanship in the Jepson School. He recently served as a discussant and moderator for a half-day session on the hot-button topic of federal judicial selection sponsored by the Richmond Law School and the Jepson School.
Terry L. Price specializes in leadership ethics and moral psychology. A philosopher with grounding in psychology, Dr. Price focuses his teaching and research interests on applied ethics. He also studied politics on a John M. Olin Fellowship at the University of Oxford. In addition to teaching leadership ethics, he has taught business ethics, medical ethics, and contemporary moral issues. His newest book, Leadership Ethics: An Introduction, focuses on everyday leadership and provides a moral analysis of the reasons leaders give for breaking the rules. Dr. Price is also the author of Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership, from Cambridge University Press. He is co-editor of The International Library of Leadership and The Quest for Moral Leadership: Essays on Leadership Ethics, and his work has been published in Business Ethics Quarterly, Leadership Quarterly, A Quest for a General Theory of Leadership, Encyclopedia of Leadership, Journal of Value Inquiry, Journal of Political Philosophy, The Leadership and Organization Development Journal and American Philosophical Quarterly. He is an editor of the Jepson Studies in Leadership series on Palgrave Macmillan Press and is co-editor of the first volume in the series, The Values of Presidential Leadership. In 2005, Dr. Price launched the Jepson at Cambridge program and leads students to Cambridge Universitys Emmanuel College each summer where they study leadership and the law. During the 2006-07 academic year, he was visiting associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a fellow at the Parr Center for Ethics. He received the University of Richmond's Distinguished Educator Award in 2004.
Table of Contents
Contributors *Acknowledgments* Introduction *Part I History of Executive Power * One The Price of Efficacy: Aristotle and Executive Power * TwoThe Roman Executive * ThreeUnderstanding the Things of State: On Machiavellis Use of Modo, Ordine, and Via * FourThomas Hobbes, Niccolò Machiavelli, and the Executive Power * Five Lockes Latent Sovereign * Part II The American Executive * SixConstituting the Prince * SevenUnLock[e]ing the Constitutional Separation of Powers * EightThe Madisonian Understanding of Executive Power: A Defense of Concurrent Powers * NineThe Imperiled Presidency: Informal Constraints on Executive Power * TenThe Political Costs of Legalizing Executive Power * ElevenThe Modern Executive Tames Obama * Index