ABSTRACT
This chapter describes that the domestic politics of treaties have broken down, creating a situation whereby President Obama was—and presumably his successors will be—emboldened to commit the US internationally with little input by Congress. American diplomacy has not come to a screeching halt as a result of the decline of treaties. Obama's disuse of treaties, the degree to which his treaties were ignored in the Senate, and his reliance on unilateral methods of diplomacy, however, require a reassessment of this argument. In terms of domestic politics, political science scholarship suggests that presidents are constrained in their use of unilateral powers by the willingness of legislators to check executive action. The Iran nuclear agreement is but one example of President Obama using unilateral diplomatic tools in order to push consequential foreign policies in furtherance of his legacy.
