Abstract
This article offers an overall assessment of President Barack Obama’s use of unilateral presidential directives and situates his usage in a broader historical context. It draws on academic scholarship and history to better understand the extent to which Obama’s use of unilateral presidential directives (such as executive orders, proclamations, and memoranda) comports with or departs from that of other presidents. It examines five perspectives on Obama’s use of unilateral presidential directives (namely, a quantitative overview of his executive orders and proclamations, a qualitative review of some of his more noteworthy directives, and a survey of what the president, his conservative critics, and liberals have had to say about his directives). The evidence indicates that Obama has been fairly reserved or reticent in his use of unilateral directives. Four possible explanations for the nature of his (dis)use of unilateral directives (namely, reservations of a political, constitutional, or psychological nature, as well as the use of alternatives to unilateral presidential directives are considered).
About the author
Graham G. Dodds is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal. He is the author of the book “Take Up Your Pen: Unilateral Presidential Directives in American Politics” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013) and has also published several journal articles and book chapters on the topic. Beyond unilateral presidential directives, Professor Dodds is a scholar of American political development and has published work on presidential-press relations, political culture, and governmental apologies.
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