Andrew Rudalevige – författare

The belief that U.S. presidents'' legislative policy formation has centralized over time, shifting inexorably out of the executive departments and into the White House, is shared by many who have studied the American presidency. Andrew Rudalevige argues that such a linear trend is neither at all certain nor necessary for policy promotion. In Managing the President''s Program, he presents a far more complex and interesting picture of the use of presidential staff. Drawing on transaction cost theory, Rudalevige constructs a framework of "contingent centralization" to predict when presidents will use White House and/or departmental staff resources for policy formulation. He backs his assertions through an unprecedented quantitative analysis of a new data set of policy proposals covering almost fifty years of the postwar era from Truman to Clinton.Rudalevige finds that presidents are not bound by a relentless compulsion to centralize but follow a more subtle strategy of staff allocation that makes efficient use of limited bargaining resources. New items and, for example, those spanning agency jurisdictions, are most likely to be centralized; complex items follow a mixed process. The availability of expertise outside the White House diminishes centralization. However, while centralization is a management strategy appropriate for engaging the wider executive branch, it can imperil an item''s fate in Congress. Thus, as this well-written book makes plain, presidential leadership hinges on hard choices as presidents seek to simultaneously manage the executive branch and attain legislative success.

How the executive branch—not the president alone—formulates executive orders, and how this process constrains the chief executive''s ability to act unilaterallyThe president of the United States is commonly thought to wield extraordinary personal power through the issuance of executive orders. In fact, the vast majority of such orders are proposed by federal agencies and shaped by negotiations that span the executive branch. By Executive Order provides the first comprehensive look at how presidential directives are written—and by whom.In this eye-opening book, Andrew Rudalevige examines more than five hundred executive orders from the 1930s to today—as well as more than two hundred others negotiated but never issued—shedding vital new light on the multilateral process of drafting supposedly unilateral directives. He draws on a wealth of archival evidence from the Office of Management and Budget and presidential libraries as well as original interviews to show how the crafting of orders requires widespread consultation and compromise with a formidable bureaucracy. Rudalevige explains the key role of management in the presidential skill set, detailing how bureaucratic resistance can stall and even prevent actions the chief executive desires, and how presidents must bargain with the bureaucracy even when they seek to act unilaterally.Challenging popular conceptions about the scope of presidential power, By Executive Order reveals how the executive branch holds the power to both enact and constrain the president’s will.

“Hope” and “change” were the keywords of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and in his farewell address on January 10, 2017, he cited the evidence that he’d delivered—from reversing the Great Recession, rebooting the auto industry, and unleashing the longest stretch of job creation in the nation’s history to winning marriage equality and securing the right to health insurance for another 20 million citizens. At the same time, and with a view to the country’s divisive polarization, he made a plea for “the decency of our people” and “the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.”

In hindsight, it is increasingly possible to understand whether and how Obama’s legacy matched his rhetoric as well as to evaluate from various angles what his presidency accomplished and what this has meant for US politics, public policy, and civic life going forward. In The Obama Legacy some of the leading observers and scholars of US politics take up this challenge. In twelve essays these writers examine Obama’s choices, operating style, and opportunities taken and missed as well as the institutional and political constraints on the president’s policy agenda. What were Obama’s personal characteristics as a leader? What were the policy aspirations, output, and strategy of his presidency? What was his role as a political and public leader to the various constituencies needed to generate presidential power? And how did his presidency interact with other political forces?

Addressing these questions and others, the authors analyze Obama’s preferences, tactics, successes, and shortcomings with an eye toward balancing the personal and institutional factors that underlie each—all the while considering how resilient or fragile Obama’s legacy will be in the face of the Trump administration’s eager efforts to dismantle it.

Trace the opening rounds of the Trump administration: highlighting the 2016 election, transition, inauguration, and first one hundred days.  

 

Never losing sight of the foundations of the office, The Politics of the Presidency maintains a balance between historical context, the current political environment, and contemporary scholarship on the executive branch, providing a solid foundation for any presidency course. In addition to offering readers a comprehensive framework for understanding the expectations, powers, and limitations of the executive branch, the Revised Ninth Edition uses the most up-to-date coverage and analysis of the 2016 election and Trump administration to demonstrate key concepts.

 

New to the Revised Ninth Edition

Trace the opening rounds of the Trump administration: highlighting the 2016 election, transition, inauguration, and first one hundred days.  

 

Never losing sight of the foundations of the office, The Politics of the Presidency maintains a balance between historical context, the current political environment, and contemporary scholarship on the executive branch, providing a solid foundation for any presidency course. In addition to offering readers a comprehensive framework for understanding the expectations, powers, and limitations of the executive branch, the Revised Ninth Edition uses the most up-to-date coverage and analysis of the 2016 election and Trump administration to demonstrate key concepts.

 

New to the Revised Ninth Edition

From the authors of The Politics of the Presidency comes this new supplement examining the unprecedented administration of Donald J. Trump. With their trademark balance between historical context, the current political environment, and contemporary scholarship on the executive branch, Joseph A. Pika, John Anthony Maltese, and Andrew Rudalevige offer students in American politics a brief but thorough overview of the Trump presidency''s first year of office. From the transition to the Russia investigation, Understanding a New Presidency in the Age of Trump grounds the ongoing news cycle in a deeper analysis of the executive branch, encouraging you to draw connections between current events and broader political science concepts. Whether packaged with another CQ Press title or used on its own, Understanding a New Presidency will give you the insight you need.