Foreign Affairs and the Separation of Powers

Catalog description

The Constitution grants considerable responsibility over foreign affairs to the legislative branch, including the power of the purse and the power to authorize war. Yet critics suggest that in practice, Congress exercises few of its constitutional foreign-affairs powers and instead confers almost all responsibility on the executive. This course examines congressional and presidential powers over foreign affairs and war. Topics covered will include the theoretical legislative checks granted by the Constitution, debates about the interpretation of statutory authority granted to the legislature versus the executive, historical cases of how these branches have exercised their authority, and a study of contemporary questions about the separation of foreign-affairs powers, in particular the post-9/11 experience that critics charge has largely muted legislative checks.