Declaring War directly challenges the 200-year-old belief that the Congress can and should declare war. By offering a detailed analysis of the declarations of 1812, 1898, and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the book demonstrates the extent of the organizational and moral incapacity of the Congress to declare war. This book invokes Carl von Clausewitz's dictum that "war is policy" to explain why declarations of war are an integral part of war and proposes two possible remedies a constitutional amendment or, alternatively, a significant reorganization of Congress. It offers a comprehensive...

Wishing to be helpful, Nurturing the Imperial Presidency by Brien Hallett illuminates the 5,000-year-old invariant practice of executive war-making. Why has the nation's war leader always decided and declared war? Substituting a speech act approach for the traditional "separation of powers" approach, Hallett argues that he who controls the drafting of the declaration of war also controls the decision to go to war. However, recent legislation calling for legislated "approvals" or “authorization to use force” before the executive can go to war, in no way hinder the executive's ancient...