The most enduring consequence of a war is often not what happens on the battlefield, but what it reveals about the institutions that authorise it. In the United States, a growing debate over military action against Iran has exposed a question that has troubled American democracy for decades: who truly decides when the nation goes to war? Modern American presidents have steadily accumulated authority in matters of war and peace.

From Vietnam to Iraq, Libya to Syria, military interventions have frequently begun or expanded under executive initiative, with the US Congress relegated to the role of observer, financier or critic. The constitutional design, however, envisioned a different balance. The power to declare war was deliberately vested in Congress, while the president was made commander-in-chief of forces already authorised for use. That distinction has eroded over time. National security emergencies, technological advances and the demands of modern warfare have strengthened the presidency at the expense of legislative oversight. The result is a system in which elected representatives often find themselves debating military campaigns after they have begun rather than before they are launched.

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