Is Congress Gaining the Upper Hand? - Or Is the Power of the President Dominant? -- A Century Foundation Essay

In this e-doc, Mickey Edwards, the John Quincy Adams Lecturer in Legislative Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, who served as a member of Congress for sixteen years, examines the shifts in the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government over time, with particular attention to the changes that have taken place over the past few decades. He explores the special circumstances that affect the relative roles of the branches, particularly threats to national security as well as actual war; the role of political parties, particularly the fall in party affiliation among voters, in the equation; and the power of presidential persuasion because, in large part, of the advent of television and an obsession with celebrity. This e-Doc is published by BrownHerron Publishing, with permission. The Century Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, supports research and analyses of critical public policy issues.