A new presidential style?

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

Join Professor Desmond King, Andrew W Mellon Professor of American Government at University of Oxford, as he presents his recent research on how the Trump administration governs by executive order.

The use of executive orders (unilateral directives issued independently of Congress) by presidents of the United States has increased markedly in the last five decades. However, President Donald Trump in his second administration has made far greater use of this instrument of presidential policy-making than his predecessors, to the extent that a new style of governance has emerged. 

This seminar will present a paper that investigates the content and significance of governing by executive order, assessing how such a strategy exposes the limits and opportunities for presidential power in the United States. In principle, Professor Desmond King will expose that presidential governing is constrained by a system of separated powers, and the enhancement of executive authority during a period of party political control challenges this presumption.