Globalization and the Growth of Executive Power: An Old Story

16 Pages Posted: 21 Feb 2016 Last revised: 25 Aug 2017

See all articles by Alasdair S. Roberts

Alasdair S. Roberts

University of Massachusetts Amherst - School of Public Policy

Date Written: August 24, 2017

Abstract

Prepared for the annual symposium of the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Maurer School of Law, March 3-4, 2016. Americans have always worried about an undue concentration of power in the executive branch. Recently, people have worried that globalization might be making the problem even worse. But the concern is overstated, or at least misstated. Globalization is not a new phenomenon, and most of its effect on executive power was realized decades ago. And globalization might undermine executive power, rather than bolster it, either because globalization undermines the authority of the nation-state, or shifts authority to technocrats. If there is a general tendency toward increased executive power in the twenty-first century, this is might attributable more directly to other factors, such as improvements in information technology, intensified electoral competition, and judicial decisions that have undermined checks on the accumulation of authority in the executive branch.

Keywords: Globalization, executive power, separation of powers, United States

Suggested Citation

Roberts, Alasdair S., Globalization and the Growth of Executive Power: An Old Story (August 24, 2017). Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 24.2 (Summer 2017): 497-511, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2735090

Alasdair S. Roberts (Contact Author)

University of Massachusetts Amherst - School of Public Policy ( email )

Thompson Hall
Amherst, MA 01003
United States
6175999029 (Phone)

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