Monday, November 14, 2016

"Madisonian Institutions" and the "Trumanite Network"

"My book is an application of a theory devised in the 1860s by Walter Bagehot in his book The English Constitution. According to the theory, there were two sets of institutions in Britain. The so-called dignified institutions—the House of Lords and the monarchy—presented a façade of authority and decisional power that enjoyed legitimacy in the eyes of the British people, and a set of concealed institutions—'efficient' institutions—that operated behind the scenes and actually formulated and implemented governmental policy.
"I take this theory in the book and ask whether the progeny of England might also be analyzed through this dualist framework. And the suggestion in the book is yes. The 'dignified' institutions are the ones that are constitutionally established: the presidency, Congress, and the courts. And in the realm of national security, the 'efficient' institutions actually engage in the process of defining national security and formulating measures to safeguard it."

Leon Neyfakh at Slate interviews Michael J. Glennon, author of National Security and Double Government.

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