© 1985 by CSF Associates Inc.
The Diffusion of Executive Power in American State Constitutions: Tenure and Tenure Limitations
State University of New York New Paltz
The comparative study of the development of state constitutional provisions concerning executive power, within the framework of diffusion theory, has value for a general understanding of executive authority in contemporary America. American chief executive offices were designed with a complex package of powers and limits, all viewed by their creators as mutually contingent and in delicate balance. Since the creation of each executive office, constitutional development has evidenced a "decoupling effect," that is, in different eras, discrete powers and limits, considered individually, were altered in response to unfolding events and changing ideological premises, generally with the effect of enhancing executive power. This pattern is evident in the development of the current norm in constitutional provisions regarding tenure and tenure limitation, the four-year term and the two-term limit. In this development, there has been evidence of mutual influence between the states and the national government with some evidence, too, of regional patterns of resistance to change (in New England). Somewhat surprisingly for those whose study of executive power is limited to the Presidency, when a comparative approach is employed, the post-Civil War period emerges as a crucial time of executive strengthening in America.