University Professor David Driesen spoke with Mother Jones for an extensive article on the “unitary executive” theory.
“The unitary executive theory is a pathway to autocracy,” says Driesen, whose 2021 book, The Specter of Dictatorship, details the dangers of centralizing power in a single leader. “In every functional democracy I’m aware of, there is a civil service that can’t be easily fired, and there also are pockets in the government where even the top levels are somewhat independent of the head of state.”
In countries like Poland, Hungary, and Turkey, which have all recently experienced democratic backsliding, Driesen says civil service purges were an early step in the project of replacing the rule of law with autocracy. “The unitary executive theory is important,” he says, because it “legitimates this kind of thing in the minds of the elite.”
“The vision of the founding is that the president was to faithfully execute the law. That’s what the Constitution says,” says Driesen. “That’s what the rule of law is all about.”