The Hope for Audacity: The Understated Unilateralism of President Obama

Abstract

AbstractThis 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).