The War on Terror and the Growth of Executive Power?: A Comparative Analysis

The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington prompted a "global war on terror" that led to a significant shift in the balance of executive-legislative power in the United States towards the executive at the expense of the Congress.In this volume, seasoned scholars examine the extent to which terrorist threats and counter-terrorism policies led uniformly to the growth of executive or Government power at the expense of legislatures and parliaments in other political systems, including those of Australia, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, and Russia. The contributors question whether the "crises" created by 9/11 and subsequent attacks, led inexorably to executive strengthening at the expense of legislatures and parliaments. The research reported finds that democratic forces served to mitigate changes to the balance of legislative and executive power to varying degrees in different political systems.This book will be of interest to students and researchers of Comparative Government Politics and International Politics.

1. Introduction: The Post 9/11 "War on Terror" on Executive-Legislative Relations: A Global Perspective John E. Owens and Riccardo Pelizzo 2. Fire Alarms, Partisan Polarization, and Oversight Effectiveness in a Separated System: Congressional Acquiescence in the US "war on terror" John E. Owens 3. From Evasion to Embarrassment and Concession: The Boomerang Effect of the War on Terror on Executive-Legislative Relations in the UK Mark Shepard 4. Molto Rumore Per Nulla? The Italian Parlamento and the "War on Terror" Riccardo Pelizzo 5. Australian Executive-Legislative Relations after 9/11: Divided Government in a Parliamentary System John Uhr and Phil Larkin 6. Still Living Dangerously: Democratisation and the Threat of Terrorism in Indonesia Edward Schneier 7. The Japanese Diet and the War on Terror Michael Heazle 8. The Impact of a Prolonged War on Terror on Executive-Legislative Relations: An Israeli Perspective Chen Friedberg and Reuven Hazan 9. Legislative Relations in Russia: Putin, the Parliament, and the Terrorist Threat Tom Remington 10. The Impact of the Post 9/11 "War on Terror" on Executive-Legislative Relations in Comparative Perspective John E. Owens and Riccardo Pelizzo