False Front
The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age
Seiten
2024
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-83723-9 (ISBN)
University of Chicago Press (Verlag)
978-0-226-83723-9 (ISBN)
A provocative new perspective on presidential power.
Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president's pen. But after all the press releases, ceremonies, and speeches, shockingly little gets done. The American presidency promises to solve America's problems, but presidents' unilateral solutions are often weak, even empty.
Kenneth Lowande argues this is no accident. The US political system is not set up to allow presidents to solve major policy problems, yet it lays these problems at their doorstep, and there is no other elected official better positioned to attract attention by appearing to govern. Like any politician, presidents are strategic actors who seek symbolic wins. They pursue executive actions, even when they know that these will fail, because doing so allows them to put on a compelling show for key constituencies. But these empty presidential actions are not without their costs: they divert energy from effective government—and, over time, undermine public trust. Drawing on thousands of executive actions, news coverage, interviews, and presidential archives, False Front shows that the real root of presidential power is in what presidents can get away with not doing.
Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president's pen. But after all the press releases, ceremonies, and speeches, shockingly little gets done. The American presidency promises to solve America's problems, but presidents' unilateral solutions are often weak, even empty.
Kenneth Lowande argues this is no accident. The US political system is not set up to allow presidents to solve major policy problems, yet it lays these problems at their doorstep, and there is no other elected official better positioned to attract attention by appearing to govern. Like any politician, presidents are strategic actors who seek symbolic wins. They pursue executive actions, even when they know that these will fail, because doing so allows them to put on a compelling show for key constituencies. But these empty presidential actions are not without their costs: they divert energy from effective government—and, over time, undermine public trust. Drawing on thousands of executive actions, news coverage, interviews, and presidential archives, False Front shows that the real root of presidential power is in what presidents can get away with not doing.
Kenneth Lowande is associate professor of political science and public policy at the University of Michigan, where he is also a faculty associate in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research.
1. Presidential Power in a Polarized Age
2. The Presidency for Realists
3. Counting on Action
4. How Presidents Act
5. The Public Demands
6. Most Press Is Good Press
7. Help with What?
8. Executive Power in Democracy
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Vignette Bibliographies
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 19.09.2024 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Chicago Studies in American Politics |
| Zusatzinfo | 17 halftones, 1 line drawings |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 454 g |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-226-83723-8 / 0226837238 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-226-83723-9 / 9780226837239 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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Buch | Softcover (2024)
Rehm Verlag
CHF 53,20
