Mansfield, Harvey C. “The Modern Doctrine of Executive Power.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 17, no. 2 (April 1, 1987): 237–252.

When executive power is understood in its essential ambivalence between the weak, formal executive of theory and the strong, informal executive in practice, a quick history of the doctrine necessary to establish this ambivalence can be constructed: from Aristotle, who deliberately ignored the executive, to Machiavelli, who conceived it, to Locke, who constitutionalized it, to Montesquieu, who made it less terrible and enabled a free government to govern without frightening its citizens.

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