Presidential Leadership The Vortex of Power

by Rockman, Bert A.; Waterman, Richard W.

• ISBN13: 9780195332513
• ISBN10: 0195332512
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-07-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Presidents are expected to demonstrate strong leadership skills and are quickly criticized when they do not. But what, precisely, does leadership entail? And how can we better analyze and understand the complexities of presidential leadership? A collection of compelling analyses by eminent scholars, Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power looks at presidential leadership from a variety of perspectives, integrating cutting-edge research on both the incentives and the constraints presidents face in their attempts to lead the country.These original readings contextualize presidential leadership in relation to Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the media, and the public. Furthermore, the essays include discussions on executive decision making and both domestic and national security issues. With its central role in the American political system yet limited capacity to influence the public's view, the presidency presents an intriguing subject for inquiry. Editors Bert A. Rockman and Richard W. Waterman examine different frameworks for understanding the conditions of leadership andprovide an evaluation of the leading theories of presidential leadership. Presidential Leadership will serve as an important new resource for judging presidents in office by offering novel ways of thinking about the presidency and by providing a comprehensive examination of presidential leadership.

Author Biography

Bert A. Rockman is Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (OUP, 2006), The George W. Bush Presidency: Appraisals and Prospects (2004), and coauthor of In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive (2000). He has also served as editor of Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions.
Richard W. Waterman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. He is author of The Changing American Presidency (2003) and coauthor of The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (1999), Enforcing the Law: The Case of the Clean Water Acts (1996), and Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy (1994).

Table of Contents

What Is Presidential Leadership?

A New Model of Presidential Leadership: Controlling the Bureaucracy

A Primer on the President's Legislative Program

Conditional Presidential Leadership: Pivotal Players, Gridlock, and Delegation

Power Without Persuasion: Identifying Executive Influence

Impediments to Presidential Leadership: The Limitations of the Permanent Campaign and Going Public Strategies

Presidential Leadership in an Age of New Media

Which Presidents Are Uncommonly Successful in Congress?

The Politicized Judiciary: A Threat to Executive Power

The Evolution of the Institutional Presidency: Presidential Choices, Institutional Change, and Staff Performance

Understanding Presidential Personality

The Politics of Persuasion: A Bargaining Model of Presidential Power

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