What Happened to the American Declaration of War?

The "wink and nod" suspension of Section 8 of Article I represents a mortal threat to the Republic. If this can be done, what can't be done?

It is my longstanding view that the United States is not an empire, but rather a hegemon. For the distinction, please read this. Nevertheless, Friedman's points are sound, as usual. — RDM

by George Friedman
April 11, 2011

In my book The Next Decade, I spend a good deal of time considering the relation of the American Empire to the American Republic and the threat the empire poses to the republic. If there is a single point where these matters converge, it is in the constitutional requirement that Congress approve wars through a declaration of war and in the abandonment of this requirement since World War II. This is the point where the burdens and interests of the United States as a global empire collide with the principles and rights of the United States as a republic.

World War II was the last war the United States fought with a formal declaration of war. The wars fought since have had congressional approval, both in the sense that resolutions were passed and that Congress appropriated …