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📜intro to political science review

key term - Executive Sovereignty

Citation:

Definition

Executive sovereignty refers to the authority and power vested in the executive branch of government, particularly the president or prime minister, to exercise control and decision-making over national affairs. It encompasses the executive's ability to enact policies, issue executive orders, and lead the government's operations without undue interference from other branches of government.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

  1. Executive sovereignty grants the head of the executive branch the power to make unilateral decisions and take actions without requiring approval from the legislative or judicial branches.
  2. The scope of executive sovereignty can vary across different political systems, with some granting the executive more expansive powers than others.
  3. Judicial review serves as a check on executive sovereignty, allowing the courts to determine the constitutionality of the executive's actions and decisions.
  4. Executive orders are a key tool used by the executive to exercise their sovereignty, bypassing the legislative process to enact policies.
  5. Debates around the appropriate balance between executive sovereignty and other branches' checks and balances are central to discussions on the separation of powers and the limits of executive authority.

Review Questions

  • Explain the relationship between executive sovereignty and the separation of powers.
    • The concept of executive sovereignty is closely tied to the separation of powers doctrine, which divides governmental authority into three distinct branches - legislative, executive, and judicial. While executive sovereignty grants the head of the executive branch significant decision-making power, the separation of powers is designed to prevent any single branch from becoming too dominant. This balance is maintained through a system of checks and balances, where the other branches can review, constrain, or override the actions of the executive branch to ensure no one branch accumulates too much unchecked power.
  • Describe how judicial review can serve as a check on executive sovereignty.
    • Judicial review is a key mechanism that allows the judicial branch to scrutinize and potentially invalidate the actions of the executive branch if they are deemed unconstitutional. This power of the courts to review and rule on the legality of executive decisions and policies acts as a crucial check on executive sovereignty. By subjecting the executive's actions to judicial oversight, the courts can prevent the abuse of power and ensure that the executive branch operates within the bounds of the law and the Constitution. The threat of judicial review can also incentivize the executive to exercise its sovereignty in a manner that is more aligned with constitutional principles and the rule of law.
  • Analyze how the use of executive orders can impact the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.
    • The executive's ability to issue unilateral executive orders can significantly expand the scope of their sovereignty by allowing them to bypass the legislative process and enact policies without congressional approval. This can shift the balance of power away from the legislative branch, which is traditionally responsible for lawmaking, and concentrate more authority in the hands of the executive. However, the legislative branch retains the power to pass laws that can override or limit the impact of executive orders, and the judicial branch can also review the constitutionality of such orders. The tension between the executive's use of orders and the legislative and judicial branches' checks on this power is a central aspect of the ongoing debate over the appropriate limits of executive sovereignty.