Presidential Federalism

From Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which precipitated a radical shift in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federalism, to Richard Nixon’s New Federalism and Ronald Reagan’s push for devolution, presidents, and presidential policies have reframed federal and state relations over time. Presidential Federalism: The Role of Presidents in Shaping National-State Relations uniquely reframes the traditional approach to and periodization of federalism through the lens of presidential politics. It explores how modern presidents, through their policy priorities and presidential rhetoric, have shaped and shifted our understanding of federalism. Standard treatments of federalism tend to focus on judicial, legal interpretation of competing jurisdictional authority, creating periods of changeable federal-to-state authority within which political actors, including presidents, must operate. The periodization that is prevalent in the literature on federalism only loosely corresponds to specific presidential administrations and changes in presidential policy regarding the exercise of federal power. Yet, presidents also play an important role in shaping federalism–setting the policy agenda and the preferred venue (federal or state) in which policy issues are fought. Presidential Federalism contributes to gaps in the intergovernmental relations and management perspectives of contemporary federalism that overlook or underplay executive influence in the changing understanding of federal and state relationships and the practical realities for policy actors operating within different administrations.