Struggle For War Power Between U.S. Presidency And The Congress

World is always full of contradictions. The United States, on the one hand, claims itself as the world's most democratic and free country, respecting for human rights; the world's most powerful country in terms of its economy and military, and as a sole superpower in the world after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union; on the other hand, it uses different excuses, such as defending national security, and exporting its ideas of "democracy" and freedom, do whatever they want, like invading into other countries militarily, and trampling on the human rights of the invaded countries. From the Vietnam War and the Gulf War to the War against terrorism after "9·11" event, U.S. foreign military actions are always in support and opposition in the winding. These military actions are extensively reported by the United States and the world media, and the reporting often reflects one phenomenon, e.g. the agreement between the U.S. Congress and the President in the beginning, and doubts and oppositions from the public and media later on, then withdrawal motions by members of Congress, are calling for deep thought. Why war? Who is dominating the war, Congress or the President? How to end the war? In particular the struggle and compromise between the U.S. Congress and the president who are playing critical roles in the war, and the factors affecting their relationships are really worth studying, so that we could more clearly understand the war initiated by the United States in real terms.In order to dominate the world and to control over economic resources and achieve its other strategic objectives, the United States launched wars. The U.S. Congress and U.S. presidents are always fighting on the war power each other. Studies show that, the struggle between Congress and the President for war power is subject to the United States'political system, the United States foreign policy types, and party politics as well as interests groups.The struggle between US Congress and US President is firstly due to the US political system. The United States Government agencies are divided into three parts:the legislative, administrative and judicial, they are independent and restricted with each other and exercise their functions accordingly. The United States Constitution assigns Congress the right to declare war while the President has the right, as Commander-in-Chief of the national armed forces, to command the war. While the President's executive powers including exercise of the right of the war, must be authorized by the Congress. The Supreme Court is to balance the relationship between them.The war power of Congress and the President varies from three different foreign policies. Under structural policy, Congress'power reaches its maximum with regard to the war, the President and its administration's behavior and ability are restricted by Congress. Under the strategic policy, Congress utilizes its legislative power to impose influence on the decision. And under crisis policy, Congress is almost in a subordinate position.Meanwhile, the status of the two-party system in the United States and interests groups also makes big impact on the struggle between congress and the president. It will be the findings that these factors are closely related to the value of American if we do further study. And American's liberalism plays a significant role in the political life.The United States is a nation of immigrants, people with different religious beliefs, race, ethnic background, income level or occupation gathering together, they have a complex and diverse interests, such unique historical background makes it important that people request freedom and personal involvement, however, they must live together, which means, to some extent, that they should agree or compromise with each other. Reflected in politics is the decentralized system of government, as well as political parties and interest groups. Decentralization causes balance between different political powers, its purpose and biggest advantage are to establish democratic system to protect individual freedom and prevent from centralized autocracy. Political parties represent different regions and different sectors of the interests of party members, and interest groups provide a channel for citizens to participate in politics, making their power and interests recognized and protected.This paper first reviews the history of the War Powers struggle between the Congress and the President, and then goes through two cases:military actions against Iraq after 9·11 events and the war in Afghanistan, and try to prove the analysis on the factors affecting the struggle for the war power between the Congress and the President through the case study, and finally raises the question on how to end the war for further attention and study.