Understanding Constitutional War Powers Today: Why Methodology MattersPresidential War Power. By Louis Fisher. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Pp. xvi, 245. $ 29.95 (hbk.), $ 14.95 (pbk.).

In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department... The trust and the temptation would be too great for any one man... - James Madison 1 Admitting that we ought to try the novel and absurd experiment in politics of tying up the hands of government from offensive war founded upon reasons of state, yet certainly we ought not to disable it from guarding the community against the ambition or enmity of other nations. - Alexander Hamilton 2 With the Cold War over, Americans have grown more introspective about the role of the United States in global affairs. It could hardly be otherwise. America's rise to military preeminence, its overseas commitments and priorities, and its basic sense of international purpose all were forged by circumstances of the past fifty years that have changed dramatically. The Soviet threat is gone; once shaky allies in Europe and Asia are now comparatively stable and prosperous; the specter of cataclysmic nuclear war has receded while regional conflicts, ethnic strife, and humanitarian emergencies have moved to center stage. Although the world is no less violent than it was before, the American public feels comparatively more secure. That fact alone has led many Americans to reassess what the international posture of the United States ought to be and what sacrifices they are prepared to make to advance American interests and values abroad ...