Unilateral Powers and Donald Trump Presidency
- Institution: Jagiellonian University in Krakow
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0981-4903
- Year of publication: 2022
- Source: Show
- Pages: 269-282
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppk.2022.02.20
- PDF: ppk/66/ppk6620.pdf
The paper is an exploration of using unilateral presidential powers by Donald Trump. The Author hypothesizes that Trump, due to his lack of political experience, was less keen on detailed negotiations of legislative projects with Congress, and more willing to act unilaterally. Analyzing frequency of issuing selected unilateral directives by American presidents since Jimmy Carter, the Author claims that Trump was moderate user of unilateral tools, as several of his immediate predecessors issued more unilateral directives. However, Trump was most eager to act unilaterally in his fourth year of the presidency, due to emergency and national security concerns after the pandemic hit the United States.