Authoritarianism

[Allan Ides]

I think a case can be made that de Gaulle insisted on a French
constitution that centered significant power in the presidency based on
his perception of FDR's powers, both domestic and foreign.  In many
ways, the French model adopted in the 1950s is a written form of
the "New Deal" constitution.


Allan Ides


----- Original Message -----
From: Sanford Levinson <SLevinson at MAIL.LAW.UTEXAS.EDU>
Date: Thursday, October 24, 2002 5:52 pm
Subject: Re: Authoritarianism

> Mark Scarberry writes;
>
> >Jack's treatment of abuses of power by President Nixon as a GOP
> phenomenon>leads me to ask whether the previous Democratic
> president, President
> >Johnson, had a better record. Is there someone on the list who
> has followed
> >the recent scholarship on the Johnson presidency and who would be
> willing to
> >give us a brief response?
>
>
> Let's assume that Mark is absolutely right.  Might we not have an
> importantdiscussion of the frequency with which presidents of the
> United States have
> adopted a variety of "authoritarian" postures and what this might
> tell us
> about the operating assumptions of the American system of
> government?  I
> presume that everyone would agree that Charles de Gaulle was quite
> "authoritarian" in his conception of the French presidency.  So
> perhaps we
> could do some comparative analysis and ask which of our presidents,
> including those termed "great" by at least some assessors, were at
> least as
> "authoritarian" as de Gaulle.
>
> sandy
>