Erwin C. Hargrove

The Presidency and the Prime Ministership as Institutions: An American Perspective:

British and American executive institutions have been thought of as mirror opposites, each with its own political logic derived from the larger patterns of government which reflect and enforce that logic. My assignment was to bring to bear the approach of a student of the presidency to an understanding of the office of prime minister. I have tackled the assignment by initially analysing the ideas of institutional reformers in each system who would borrow and transplant admired features of the other system as a means of shoring up what are thought to be distressing weaknesses of government at home. Thus, American advocates of ‘party government’ look to the British Westminster system of cabinet government. And, to a lesser degree, American and British critics of prime ministerial power look to new parliamentary committees, and perhaps proportional representation in voting, to loosen central authority. It is not clear, in either case, that the other system is perceived accurately by the reformers. Just to ask this question is to anchor each executive institution in the political logic of the larger system, which influences executive ways more than the reverse. The political logic of each regime may rule out borrowing institutions that defy logic. A second perspective is to ask whether one can see a convergence of patterns of popular politics in the two systems. Mass publics may have very high, perhaps unrealistic, expectations of what individual presidents or prime ministers can accomplish. It is easy to focus on leadership and forget the institutional encumbrances under which leaders must work. Both executive systems could be changing, but common political trends do not necessarily

An American quarter century : US politics from Vietnam to Clinton

The end of the American century - the shape of the closing quarter, Philip John Davies. Part 1 Policy agendas reconstructed: Americas silent revolution - social policy in the United States, John Schwarz the environmental agenda and the EPA, Fredric A. Waldstein the inexorable rise of the national debt, Michael E. Bradley transforming the East-West relationship, G. Wyn Rees and David Sadler asserting US power, David Ryan. Part 2 Political arenas redefined: enter women - modest change in US politics, Georgia Duerst-Lahti benign neglect - the realpolitic of race and ethnicity, F. Dale Parent and Wayne Parent media - becoming an autonomous force, Richard Davis campaign spending and public mistrust - the limited impact of reform, Philip John Davies the transformation of the policy landscape, John Kenneth White and John A. Kromkowski leadership - the presidency and congress, Thomas Mans.

Managing the President's Program: Presidential Leadership and Legislative Policy Formulation

Managing the Presidents Program: Presidential Leadership and Legislative Policy Formulation. By Andrew Rudalevige. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002. 292p.

The Leadership Factor@@@Leadership and Innovation@@@Making a Leadership Change@@@Thriving on Chaos, Handbook for a Management Revolution

65.00. This book responds effectively to a theoretical challenge with an empirical analysis. The author addresses the proposition that successive presidents have increasingly centralized policy development in the White House to the detriment of the departments. The linear trend is said to be in response to the political demands on presidents to control their own programs. Andrew Rudalevige qualifies the theory out of existence by so broadening it that it disappears. He supplies a rich, empirical model in which presidents employ centralized, balanced, and decentralized approaches for developing policy as deliberate strategies as they perceive the different kinds of political capital and expertise involved in given cases. He finds no linear trend at all. All presidents since Harry Truman have used the White House to develop policies, but not to an increasing degree. Centralization is contingent.

Leadership and innovation : a biographical perspective on entrepreneurs in government

The national bestseller that offers prescriptions for an economic world turned upside down.