Presidential Powers Essay

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When looking at the powers of different presidents, you have to look at their responsibilities and what power they actually have when it comes to decision making. Both the Iranian and American presidents have two different presidential powers, formal and informal. Formal powers are ones that are written into the constitution and have to be upheld by anyone who comes into power, for example both presidents can sign treaties with foreign countries. Informal power are not explicitly written into the constitution (1), but are done by the president, for example being persuasive, this is a power they need to use because that is how they will gain the presidential role, by persuading the public and to make international treaties they need to use the
The American president, currently Barack Obama, has Executive powers over the federal government and has powers to appoint ambassadors, the Cabinet, Justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the federal courts and is in control of the armed forces. In law making the president himself is only part of the process at the end of it, when it comes to enrolling it (3), he has the power to ‘forget about it’ because he has the power to leave it on his desk for 10 days and then have it put through the process again. This shows that the American president has the power to ‘delay’ a law going through. Compared to the Iranian president, currently Hassan Rouhani, the American president has more formal powers because even though Rouhani is head of the executive branch, the Supreme Leader sets overall policies and oversees everything the president does. In contrast, the Supreme Leader of Iran appoints key figures in the political system and not the president. (2). This, however, doesn’t mean that the American president can do what he wishes; The Senate has to approve presidential appointments and approve treaties, the Senate has to also approve the appointments of all supreme
The president of the United States can make executive agreements (equal to a treaty) and meet with other world leaders without the Senate’s approval. He also has powers that allow him to obtain control in times of an emergency, without the interference of congress. Abraham Lincoln used this during the civil war because he needed to ensure he could spend all the money he needed to win the war. The Iranian president can also do this, he can declare a state of emergency which suspends all laws and can enact a state of martial law. However, no president has actually used this power as of now. However the president of Iran cannot make any decisions without gaining approval for them because he is not the highest ranked official in the Iranian political system the Supreme Leader is, and he has to approve all treaties and policies the president wishes to make. Informal and formal powers are not the only way in which the power and responsibility of the president can be hinders or

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