A presidency in wartime? Study of the centralization of power in the United States after September 11, 2001

Since the beginning of George W. Bush's first term, administration officials, beginning with Vice President Dick Cheney, have wanted to focus a maximum of energy on the restoration of presidential powers they believed had been eroded by the twin disasters of Vietnam and Watergate. The September I I attacks provided them with an unparalleled occasion to reach that aim. The Administration got the Patriot Act from Congress as well as the authorization to wage two wars; it was granted extensive powers to pursue enemies, and in the treatment of prisoners, proceeded by decree to increase the CIA's powers, placed certain electronic mail and telephone under surveillance. Combined with not so scrupulous election campaigning and a focus on the vital nature of the "war against terrorism", this concentration of powers allowed it to win the 2002 and then the 2004 elections. But it has since suffered from the worsening situation in Irak, its incompetence in face of Katrina and the revelation of many corruption scandals that led to its defeat in the last elections.