Executive Power in the American Political System

Undergraduate / Graduate

This seminar examines the historical development of the American presidency, with particular attention to the scope and limits of executive power. We begin by analyzing post-Revolutionary debates about executive authority and explore how institutional choices made at the Constitutional Convention have both constrained and enabled the subsequent expansion of presidential power. The course investigates why certain presidents have fundamentally transformed the office. Are periods of expanded executive authority driven primarily by individual leadership and political skill, by external shocks such as war or economic crisis, or by broader structural factors including political parties, the growth of the administrative state, and the emergence of the United States as a global superpower? We also examine the conditions under which presidents act unilaterally-such as through executive orders-rather than working with Congress to achieve their policy objectives. Throughout the seminar, students engage primary sources and scholarly literature, including comparative work on democratic backsliding, to assess whether expansions of presidential power have strengthened or undermined democratic governance in the United States. This course is limited to sophomore and junior political science majors who need to fulfill their long paper requirement.