The Managerial Presidency

Author : James P. Pfiffner
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Bureaucracy
ISBN : 0890968608

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The Managerial Presidency by James P. Pfiffner Pdf

As the scope and size of the U.S. government has expanded, the importance of good management to the success of a presidency has also increased. Although good management cannot guarantee political or policy success, poor management can certainly undermine good policy and political efforts. In this second edition of The Managerial Presidency James P. Pfiffner brings together both classic analyses and more recent treatments of managerial issues that affect the presidency. Some of the foremost presidency scholars have contributed to this volume, including Richard Neustadt, Charles O. Jones, Hugh Heclo, George Edwards, and Louis Fisher. This second edition includes more recent scholarship by Roger Porter, Steven Kelman, Peri Arnold, and Ronald Moe. The focus of this collection is the extent to which presidents can exercise control over the executive branch bureaucracies and whether it is wise for them to exert that control. Part one deals with the question of how to organize the White House staff. If this organizational problem is not resolved, solving the broader problems of organization and policy will be that much more difficult. Part two addresses the question of how much control presidents should exert over the departments and agencies of the executive branch and how the White House staff and other political appointees relate to career civil servants. The final section examines presidential managerial reform efforts and the congressional role in managing the government. Although the contributors to this collection do not all agree on how the presidency should be managed, there is surprising consensus on which questions ought to be asked. The analyses addressing those questions will be of interest to students and scholars of the modern presidency as well as those interested in executive leadership and public administration.

Author : Peri E. Arnold
Publisher : Studies in Government & Public
Page : 472 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:39015047088557

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Making the Managerial Presidency by Peri E. Arnold Pdf

Examines the political history of administrative reform undertaken by 20th-century presidents. Attempting to explain the growth of modern bureaucracy within an 18th-century framework and the expansion of presidential control over administrative powers, the author explores the relationship between administrative theory and the dilemmas posed for a developing administrative state by the separation of powers. He also looks at and compares successive cases of presidentially initiated comprehensive reform planning, in order to understand the implications for the president's institutional role. Paper edition (unseen), $25.00. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Peri E. Arnold
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1986-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0691077045

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Making the Managerial Presidency by Peri E. Arnold Pdf

The Description for this book, Making the Managerial Presidency: Comprehensive Reorganization Planning, 1905-1980, will be forthcoming.

Author : William G. Resh
Publisher : Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2015-10-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781421418506

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Rethinking the Administrative Presidency by William G. Resh Pdf

The first book to explore the tension between U.S. presidents and federal agencies from the perspective of careerists in the executive branch. Why do presidents face so many seemingly avoidable bureaucratic conflicts? And why do these clashes usually intensify toward the end of presidential administrations, when a commander-in-chief’s administrative goals tend to be more explicit and better aligned with their appointed leadership’s prerogatives? In Rethinking the Administrative Presidency, William G. Resh considers these complicated questions from an empirical perspective. Relying on data drawn from surveys and interviews, Resh rigorously analyzes the argument that presidents typically start from a premise of distrust when they attempt to control federal agencies. Focusing specifically on the George W. Bush administration, Resh explains how a lack of trust can lead to harmful agency failure. He explores the extent to which the Bush administration was able to increase the reliability—and reduce the cost—of information to achieve its policy goals through administrative means during its second term. Arguing that President Bush’s use of the administrative presidency hindered trust between appointees and career executives to deter knowledge sharing throughout respective agencies, Resh also demonstrates that functional relationships between careerists and appointees help to advance robust policy. He employs a “joists vs. jigsaws” metaphor to stress his main point: that mutual support based on optimistic trust is a more effective managerial strategy than fragmentation founded on unsubstantiated distrust. “An original and valuable book that extends the literature on the administrative presidency. A must-read.” —Hal G. Rainey, The University of Georgia, author of Understanding and Managing Public Organizations

Author : Peri E. Arnold
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Administrative agencies
ISBN : 0700608931

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Making the Managerial Presidency by Peri E. Arnold Pdf

This revised and expanded edition of the classic Making the Managerial Presidency provides a comprehensive history of presidential reorganization planning for the entire twentieth century, from Theodore Roosevelt through Bill Clinton.

Author : David Priess
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2016-03-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781610395960

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The President's Book of Secrets by David Priess Pdf

Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others have found their intelligence agencies to be among the most valuable instruments of policy and power. Since John F. Kennedy's presidency, this relationship has been distilled into a personalized daily report: a short summary of what the intelligence apparatus considers the most crucial information for the president to know that day about global threats and opportunities. This top–secret document is known as the President's Daily Brief, or, within national security circles, simply “the Book.” Presidents have spent anywhere from a few moments (Richard Nixon) to a healthy part of their day (George W. Bush) consumed by its contents; some (Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) consider it far and away the most important document they saw on a regular basis while commander in chief. The details of most PDBs are highly classified, and will remain so for many years. But the process by which the intelligence community develops and presents the Book is a fascinating look into the operation of power at the highest levels. David Priess, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer, has interviewed every living president and vice president as well as more than one hundred others intimately involved with the production and delivery of the president's book of secrets. He offers an unprecedented window into the decision making of every president from Kennedy to Obama, with many character–rich stories revealed here for the first time.

Author : Meena Bose,Andrew Rudalevige
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 325 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2020-10-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780815737964

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Executive Policymaking by Meena Bose,Andrew Rudalevige Pdf

A deep look into the agency that implements the president’s marching orders to the rest of the executive branch The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is one of the federal government’s most important and powerful agencies—but it’s also one of the least-known among the general public. This book describes why the office is so important and why both scholars and citizens should know more about what it does. The predecessor to the modern OMB was founded in 1921, as the Bureau of the Budget within the Treasury Department. President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it in 1939 into the Executive Office of the President, where it’s been ever since. The office received its current name in 1970, during the Nixon administration. For most people who know about it, the OMB’s only apparent job is to supervise preparation of the president’s annual budget request to Congress. That job, in itself, gives the office tremendous influence within the executive branch. But OMB has other responsibilities that give it a central role in how the federal government functions on a daily basis. OMB reviews all of the administration’s legislative proposals and the president’s executive orders. It oversees the development and implementation of nearly all government management initiatives. The office also analyses the costs and benefits of major government regulations, this giving it great sway over government actions that affect nearly every person and business in America. One question facing voters in the 2020 elections will be how well the executive branch has carried out the president’s promises; a major aspect of that question centers around the wider work of the OMB. This book will help members of the public, as well as scholars and other experts, answer that question.

Author : William G. Howell
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2015-03-22
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780691165684

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Thinking About the Presidency by William G. Howell Pdf

How the search for power defines the American presidential office All American presidents, past and present, have cared deeply about power—acquiring, protecting, and expanding it. While individual presidents obviously have other concerns, such as shaping policy or building a legacy, the primacy of power considerations—exacerbated by expectations of the presidency and the inadequacy of explicit powers in the Constitution—sets presidents apart from other political actors. Thinking about the Presidency explores presidents' preoccupation with power. Distinguished presidential scholar William Howell looks at the key aspects of executive power—political and constitutional origins, philosophical underpinnings, manifestations in contemporary political life, implications for political reform, and looming influences over the standards to which we hold those individuals elected to America's highest office. Howell shows that an appetite for power may not inform the original motivations of those who seek to become president. Rather, this need is built into the office of the presidency itself—and quickly takes hold of whoever bears the title of Chief Executive. In order to understand the modern presidency, and the degrees to which a president succeeds or fails, the acquisition, protection, and expansion of power in a president's political life must be recognized—in policy tools and legislative strategies, the posture taken before the American public, and the disregard shown to those who would counsel modesty and deference within the White House. Thinking about the Presidency assesses how the search for and defense of presidential powers informs nearly every decision made by the leader of the nation. In a new preface, Howell reflects on presidential power during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Author : Mordecai Lee
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : History
ISBN : 9781603445351

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Institutionalizing Congress and the Presidency by Mordecai Lee Pdf

With its creation of the U.S. Bureau of Efficiency in 1916, Congress sought to bring the principles of "scientific management" to the federal government. Although this first staff agency in the executive branch lasted only a relatively short time, it was the first central agency in the federal government dedicated to improving the management of the executive branch. Mordecai Lee offers both a chronological history of the agency and a thematic treatment of the structure, staffing, and work processes of the bureau; its substantive activities; and its effects on the development of both the executive and the legislative branches. Charged with conducting management and policy analyses at the direction of the president, this bureau presaged the emergence of the activist and modern executive branch. The Bureau of Efficiency was also the first legislative branch agency, ushering in the large administrative infrastructure that now supports the policy-making and program oversight roles of Congress. The Bureau of Efficiency's assistance to presidents foreshadowed the eventual change in the role of the president vis-a-vis Congress; it helped upend the separation of powers doctrine by giving the modern executive the management tools for preeminence over the legislative branch.

Author : John P. Burke
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Presidents
ISBN : UOM:39015021539187

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The Institutional Presidency by John P. Burke Pdf

When Franklin Roosevelt decided his administration needed a large executive staff, he instituted dramatic and lasting changes in the federal bureaucracy and in the very nature of the presidency. Today, no president can govern without an enormous White House staff. Yet analysts have disagreed about whether the key to a president's success lies in his ability to understand and adapt to the constraints of this bureaucracy or in his ability to control and even transform it to suit his needs. In The Institutional Presidency John Burke argues that both skills are crucial. Burke examines how the White House staff system--larger and more powerful than ever--interacts with a particular president's management ability and style. He begins by describing the institutional presidency that emerged during the Roosevelt administration and that every modern president inherits. Burke's central argument is that analysts and advisers must examine both the management style of individual presidents and the institutional features of the presidency that transcend particular administrations. The success of an administration, he argues, lies in the degree to which the two models can be drawn upon in the day-to-day work of defining and furthering the president's agenda. Burke concludes with a detailed comparison of the Carter and Reagan administrations. He describes Carter as a variant of the collegial manager, and Reagan as more formalistic. In spite of very different approaches to the presidency, he observes, neither was a particularly successful manager--and both experienced tellingly similar difficulties coping with the institutional dynamics of the White House staff. Burke also makes some preliminaryobservations about George Bush--who combines "Eisenhower's more formal procedures with Kennedy's informal, collegial style."

Author : David Priess
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2018-11-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781541788213

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How to Get Rid of a President by David Priess Pdf

A vivid political history of the schemes, plots, maneuvers, and conspiracies that have attempted -- successfully and not -- to remove unwanted presidents To limit executive power, the founding fathers created fixed presidential terms of four years, giving voters regular opportunities to remove their leaders. Even so, Americans have often resorted to more dramatic paths to disempower the chief executive. The American presidency has seen it all, from rejecting a sitting president's renomination bid and undermining their authority in office to the more drastic methods of impeachment, and, most brutal of all, assassination. How to Get Rid of a President showcases the political dark arts in action: a stew of election dramas, national tragedies, and presidential departures mixed with party intrigue, personal betrayal, and backroom shenanigans. This briskly paced, darkly humorous voyage proves that while the pomp and circumstance of presidential elections might draw more attention, the way that presidents are removed teaches us much more about our political order.

Author : Peri E. Arnold
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2009-09-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780700618187

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Remaking the Presidency by Peri E. Arnold Pdf

In a period of American history marked by congressional primacy, presidential passivity, and hostility to governmental action, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson became iconic presidents through activist leadership. Peri Arnold, a leading presidential scholar, goes beyond the biographers to explain what really set Roosevelt apart from his predecessor William McKinley, how Wilson differed from his successor Warren G. Harding, and how we might better understand the forgettable William Howard Taft in between. This is the first comparative study of the three Progressive Era presidents, examining the context in which they served, the evolving institutional role of the presidency, and the personal characteristics of each man. Arnold explains why Roosevelt and Wilson pursued activist roles, how they gained the means for effective leadership in a role that had not previously supported it, and how each of the three negotiated the choppy crosscurrents of changing institutions and politics with entirely different outcomes. Arnold delineates the American political scene at the turn of the twentieth century, one characterized by a weakening of party organizations, the rise of interest groups and print media, and increasing demands for reform. He shows how the Progressive Era presidents marked a transition from the nineteenth century's checks and balances to the twentieth's expansive presidential role, even though demands for executive leadership were at odds with the presidency's means to take independent action. Each of these presidents was uniquely challenged to experiment with the office's new potential for political independence from party and Congress, and Arnold explains how each had to justify their authority for such experimentation. He also shows how their actions were reflected in specific policy case studies: the Northern Trust and naval modernization under Roosevelt, tariff reform and the Pinchot/Ballinger debate over conservation under Taft, and the Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission under Wilson. Ultimately, Arnold shows how the period's ferment affected both the presidency and its incumbents and how they in turn affected progressive politics. More important, he helps us better understand two presidents who continue to inspire politicians of differing stripes and relates their leadership styles to the modern development of the presidency.

Author : Richard P. Nathan
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1983
Category : Administrative agencies
ISBN : UOM:39015001611667

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The Administrative Presidency by Richard P. Nathan Pdf

Author : Thomas Preston
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Advisory opinions
ISBN : 9780231116213

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The President and His Inner Circle by Thomas Preston Pdf

Using M. G. Hermann's Personality Assessment-at-a-Distance (PAD) profiling technique as well as exhaustive archival research and interviews with former advisers, the author develops a leadership style typology. He then compares his model's expectations against the actual policy record, using six foreign policy episodes.

Author : Jeremi Suri
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2017-09-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780465093908

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The Impossible Presidency by Jeremi Suri Pdf

A bold new history of the American presidency, arguing that the successful presidents of the past created unrealistic expectations for every president since JFK, with enormously problematic implications for American politics In The Impossible Presidency, celebrated historian Jeremi Suri charts the rise and fall of the American presidency, from the limited role envisaged by the Founding Fathers to its current status as the most powerful job in the world. He argues that the presidency is a victim of its own success-the vastness of the job makes it almost impossible to fulfill the expectations placed upon it. As managers of the world's largest economy and military, contemporary presidents must react to a truly globalized world in a twenty-four-hour news cycle. There is little room left for bold vision. Suri traces America's disenchantment with our recent presidents to the inevitable mismatch between presidential promises and the structural limitations of the office. A masterful reassessment of presidential history, this book is essential reading for anyone trying to understand America's fraught political climate.