Presidential Powers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Presidential Powers - Essay Example Under the devolved system of governance, the President’s powers were trimmed and redistributed to the local governments. However, the president still enjoys three sources of power that include constitutional, institutional, and political sources. This present essay will focus on these current sources of power for the presidency and it will begin with an assessment of the constitutional powers of the President, followed by an assessment of how the 20th century presidents of the U.S have been able to use institutional and political resources to overcome challenges brought about by weak constitutional presidential powers. Lastly, the essay will highlight on the likely future balance of power between the Presidents and the Congress. Constitutional powers of the President It is correct to argue that the ratification of the constitution resulted in the presidency having weak powers. According to Ginsberg et al., these constitutional powers of the President are spelt out in Article T wo of the U.S constitution, which formally creates the executive arm of the central government that is made up of the President, the Vice President, and other presidential appointees. In particular, presidential powers are stated under section 2 of Article Two and they are split into three clauses (387-391). Clause 1 under Article Two gives the President exclusive powers over the U.S’ armed forces since the President is the Commander-in-chief. Furthermore, the clause states that the President shall become the Commander in Chief of militia of several states when he/ she is called into service. However, according to Ginsberg et al., this is power is weakened by the fact that it is only Congress, which can declare war (375). Nevertheless, this fact has been an issue of contention, more so during the Bush era, when President George Bush circumvented the Congress and seemingly declared war on Afghanistan while the Congress simply approved his decision. With reference to the writin gs by Ginsberg et al., it can be argued that Clause 1 is vague in the sense that during times of war there is usually no time to debate and wait for the Congress to declare war (403-405). Therefore, it can be assumed that the President is acting in the best interest of the Nation by declaring war at a strategic time. Under Clause 2, the President has powers to make treaties and nominate Judges of the Supreme Court, public Ministers, Ambassadors, and key Officers of the U.S. However, this power is watered down by the fact that the President must first seek the advice and consent from the senate before making any Treaty and nominations and there are instances where the senate has repealed certain treaties signed by Presidents (Ginsberg et al. 412-415). The third Presidential power is spelt out under Clause 3, which gives the President Powers to make a recess appointment that expires when the next session of the senate ends or until the appointee is confirmed by the senate. This Presid ential power is also weakened by the fact that these appointments are not permanent and they are only made when the senate is on recess. How U.S Presidents in the 20th century have used institutional and political resources to overcome weakness of Presidential powers With references to the writings by Ginsberg et al., he noted that U.S Presidents in the 20th century as well as the 21st century have laid claim to certain inherent powers that they feel are intertwined with the powers that have been granted to them under Article Two of the constitution (Ginsberg et al. 423-428). Moreover, the Presidents have been able to lay claim on this inherent powers because the constitution is

Research philosophies and principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Research philosophies and principles - Essay Example The postmodern moment (1990-1995) 6. The postexperimental inquiry moment (1995-2000) 7. The methodologically contested present (2000-2010) 8. The future moment (2010-). In each of the eight moments, different things are included in the definition of qualitative research (Jessor, Colby and Shweder, 1996, p. 129). However, it is customary to offer a generic definition of the qualitative research here: Qualitative research is a kind of research that is â€Å"based on a relativistic, constructivist ontology that posits that there is no objective reality. Rather, there are multiple realities constructed by human beings who experience a phenomenon of interest† (Krauss, 2005, p. 760). Researchers commonly adopt the qualitative methodology when they want to alter things for the better or want to bring a change. Therefore, advocacy and empathy are two of the most essential elements of the researcher’s lifestyle (Stake, 2010, p. 14). This paper evaluates and compares the research philosophies and principles of four research papers related to tourism. All of the research papers are based on qualitative research but have different research paradigms. 1. Visiting death and life: dark tourism and slave castles by Rasul A. Mowatt and Charles H. Chancellor Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) selected Ghana for their research since this country has most number of West African Slave Castles i.e. 36 out of the total 52 that have remained. Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) used interviews, photo elicitation and analysis of the tourists’ narratives in their methodology. The study involved 14 African descents eight of whom were females and six were males. All of them were from the US. The researchers agreed upon the non-generalizability of the research results. â€Å"As such the results from this study are not generalizable. A second sample could have yielded a confirmation or divergence in responses and behaviors with this sample† (Mowatt and Chancellor, 2011, p. 14 28). Research carried out by Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) is an exploratory research wherein the researchers don’t come with preconceived notions about the tourists’ motivations. This research was a mix of the modernist, critical representation and blurred genres moments of research. In course of their research, Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) found that although there is a lot of disparity in the ethnic identities of the aboriginal Africans and the African Americans that have been away from their indigenous place for centuries, yet they still relate to one another and shed away all their time-bound differences when they make a visit to the Ghanaian Slave Castles. The researchers found a special bond between the tourists and the Castles, which had remained unaffected despite their distance from their native land or change in their social identities that has occurred over the time. The factor of symbolic interactionism reflects in the tourists’ discomfort with the W hite people in the post-visit stage. It suggests that the tourists consider the slavery a racial matter in which the Black race has always been oppressed by the White. The fact that the researchers made use of photographs as a means to achieve the research objectives in addition to conducting the in-depth interviews with them and studying their ethnography makes this research relate to the blurred genres moment of research. Also, the researchers’ personal or intellectual biographies don’t show up in the research which further promotes the blurred genre