Invitation To Struggle

The United States Constitution allocates the authority to initiate all forms of warfare and lesser armed hostilities exclusively to Congress, while reserving to the President the duty to repel invasions and execute the war effort as Commander in Chief. Nonetheless, many scholars have concluded that the President has some discretion in initiating hostilities. Other scholars have suggested that the constitutional allocation of the authority to make war is indeterminate, or, in the words of Edward Corwin, "an invitation to struggle for the privilege of directing American foreign policy." This paper returns to the relevant constitutional provisions and contemporaneous explanations of the allocation of the authority to initiate hostilities. It then analyzes the various constitutional and policy arguments made on behalf of presidential warmaking, as well as arguments suggesting substantial ambiguity in the allocation of the war power, and finds that such arguments are unconvincing in light of constitutional mandates.

An essential guide for Christians on how to achieve personal, ecclesial, and social transformation in the year of Jubilee.

In this highly original and thoroughly informed study, Cecil V. Crabb, Jr., Glenn Antizzo, and Leila S. Sarieddine identify and examine recurring modes or patterns of legislative behavior over the span of America's diplomatic experience. Although congressional involvement in foreign policy making has received much scholarly attention, this work is groundbreaking in that it focuses on those patterns of congressional conduct that have repeated themselves over time and, on the basis of experience, will probably continue to occur. Thus it creates a large, predictable framework of legislative activity concerning America's problems abroad to which students of U.S. foreign policy can relate Congress's actions in any era. The authors identify four models of legislative conduct -- congressional assertiveness and activism in foreign affairs, congressional acquiescence in diplomatic leadership by the president, a bipartisan approach, and a division-of-labor model in which both the president and Congress play significant but essentially different roles. In examining each of these modes, the authors explore the circumstances and factors that gave rise to each pattern and evaluate its positive and negative results for the overall foreign policy of the United States. Brimming with lively language and invaluable observations, Congress and the Foreign Policy Process offers a thought- provoking means to understanding a complex and important area in the study of American government.

Contents: The Report: executive summary; Central America; the arms sales to Iran; exposure and concealment; the enterprise; conclusions and recommendations. Also contains the Minority report: the foreign affairs powers of the Constitution and the Iran-Contra Affair; Nicaragua; Iran; disclosure and investigations; putting Congress' house in order; and recommendations. Extensive appendices contain additional views of several Representatives and Senators.

Writing from his own rich experiences--both successes and failures, Paul Tokunaga addresses the needs, difficulties, gifts and abilities that Asian Americans struggle with in leadership.

In his book, The President, Office and Powers, 1787-1984, Edward S Corwin describes the grants of power to two separate bodies affirmed by the Constitution as an 'invitation to struggle for the privilege of directing American foreign policy" 1 Because the shared powers of the Constitution cross a broad spectrum of responsibilities, this invitation to struggle is easily applied to any intercourse between the often-at-odds independent branches of our democratic government The framers of the Constitution debated not only the form of government at the Philadelphia convention of 1789, but also how best to avoid the tyrannical government from which they had recently wrested their freedom The difficulty in reaching consensus by the branches of government because of shared powers creates significant tension, especially when the branches are controlled by ideologically different parties The current clash between the Executive and Legislative bodies over the country's budget caused the longest federal government shutdown in our 219 year history Is this confrontation, what Corwin described as an invitation to struggle, really what the enlightened Framers had in mind when drafting the Constitution?

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.