The War Power in an Age of Terrorism

Debating Presidential Power

Michael A. Genovese, David Gray Adler

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781137593535
• eBook ISBN: 9781137579317
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book features a lively debate between two prominent scholars—Michael A. Genovese and David Gray Adler—on the critical issue of whether the Constitution, written in the 18th Century, remains adequate to the national security challenges of our time. The question of  the scope of the president's constitutional authority—if any—to initiate war on behalf of the American people, long the subject of heated debate in the corridors of power and the groves of academe, has become an issue of surpassing importance for a nation confronted by existential threats in an Age of Terrorism. This question should be thoroughly reviewed and debated by members of Congress, and considered by all Americans before they are asked to go to war.  If the constitutional allocation of powers on matters of war and peace is outdated, what changes should be made?  Is there a need to increase presidential power?  What role should Congress play in the war on terror?

Table of contents

• The War Power in an Age of Terrorism
• 1 War and American Democracy
• 2 Prescriptions for a New Age
• 3 The Relevance of the War Clause and the Rule of Law in Our Time
• 4 Prescriptions for Protecting the Constitutional Design for War
• Select Bibliography
• Index