The procedural presidency of George Bush

He is author of Searching for Safety; Risk and Culture; Budgeting; Speaking Truth to Power; The Beleaguered Presidency;and coauthor of Presidential Elections.     

Book Reviews

Book reviews in this article:
The Pentagonists. By A. ERNEST FITZGERALD
The Ring of Power: The White House Staff and Its Expanding Role in Government , By BRADLEY H. PATTERSON, Jr.
The Politics of the U.S. Cabinet: Representation in the Executive Branch 1789–1984. By JEFFREY E. COHEN.
Comparing Public Bureaucracies: Problems of Theory and Method. By B. GUY PETERS.
Pathways to Power: Selecting Rulers in Pluralist Democracies. Edited by MATTEI DOGAN.
Policy Studies: Integration and Evaluation. By STUART S. NAGEL.     

Book Reviews

Book reviews in this article:
Whitehall. By PETER HENNESSY.
Organizing the Presidency. By STEPHEN HESS.
Inside the Think Tank: Advising the Cabinet, 1971–1983 . By TESSA BLACKSTONE and WILLIAM PLOWDEN.
The Postmodern President: The White House Meets the World. By RICHARD ROSE.
Private Power and Centralization in France: The Notaires and the State. By EZRA N. SULEIMAN.
The Changing Politics of Local Government. By JOHN GYFORD, STEVE LEACH and CHRIS GAME.
Constitutional Dialogues: Interpretation as Political Process. By LOUIS FISHER.
Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power. By HARVEY C. MANSFIELD, JR.     

Book Reviews

S. E. Finer, The History of Government, Volume 1: Ancient Monarchies and Empires
S. E. Finer, The History of Government, Volume 2: the Intermediate Ages
S. E. Finer, The History of Government, Volume 3: Empires, Monarchies and the Modern State
Ivor Crewe and Anthony King, SDP: the Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party
Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. I: the Rise of the Network Society
Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. II: the Power of Identity
Manuel Castells, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. III: End of the Millennium
Shane O'Neill, Impartiality in Context: Grounding Justice in a Pluralist World
Onora O'Neill, Towards Justice and Virtue: a Constructive Account of Practical Reasoning
Richard English and Graham Walker (eds), Unionism in Modern Ireland: New Perspectives on Politics and Culture
Norman Porter, Rethinking Unionism: an Alternative for Northern Ireland
James Mayall, The New Interventionism, 1991–1994
Ramesh Thakur (ed), The United Nations at Fifty: Retrospect and Prospect
Philip Pettit, Republicanism: a Theory of Freedom and Government
David Arter, Parties and Democracy in the Post-Soviet Republics: the Case of Estonia
V. Stanley Vardys and Judith B. Sedaitis, Lithuania: the Rebel Nation
Clifford W. Brown Jr, Linda W. Powell and Clyde Wilcox, Serious Money: Financial Power Bases in the Presidential Nomination Process
Thomas M. Holbrook, Do Campaigns Matter?
Harvey L. Schantz (ed.), American Presidential Elections: Process, Policy, and Political Change
Susan J. Tolchin, The Angry American: How Voter Rage is Changing the Nation     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Business Mates: The Power and Politics of the Hawke Era. By DOUG McEACHERN The Accord and the Australian Labour Movement. By GWYNNETH SINGLETON The Executive State: WA Inc and the Constitution. Edited by PATRICK O'BRIEN and MARTYN WEBB Surveys in Development Economics. Edited by NORMAN GEMMELL What Should Government Do? Edited by PETER COALDRAKE and J.R. NETHERCOTE Economic and Management Pressures on Australian Public Administration. Edited by CHRIS PIRIE and JOHN POWER The Anglo-American Lexicon of the Social Sciences. By L. J. SHARPE     

Democracy and populism

He is currently president of the New England Political Science Association and has been a member of the Advisory Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. His books include America’s Constitutional Soul; Taming the Prince: The Ambivalence of Modern Executive Power; Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories;and a new translation of Machiavelli’s The Prince.     

The activists decide: the preferences of party activists in the 2016 presidential nominations

ABSTRACT

One view of presidential nominations in the United States [Steger, Wayne P. 2007. “Who Wins Presidential Nominations and Why: An Updated Forecast of the Presidential Primary Vote.” Presidential Research Quarterly 60: 91–97; Cohen, Marty, David Karol, Hans Noel, and John Zaller. 2008. The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Silver, Nate. 2016. “The Republican Party May Be Failing.” FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-republican-party-may-be-failing/] claims that the support of political elites is causally related to success in the nomination. The mechanisms for this relationship include party activists, who follow the cues party leaders send and provide necessary support to candidates in primaries and caucuses. This mechanism has not been explicitly tested. This paper explores the preferences of party activists in light of the unified elite preferences among Democrats and the lack of such unity among Republicans. Some activists in each party resist the signals from elites, but the resistance is far less widespread in the Democratic Party, where party leaders exhibited consensus support for the eventual nominee.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman, Without a Map: Political Tactics and Economic Reform in Russia Graeme Gill and Roger D. Marwick, Russia's Stillborn Democracy: From Gorbachev to Yeltsin Vladimir Mau, Russian Economic Reforms as Seen by an Insider Kate Hudson, European Communism since 1989: Towards a New European Left? Andrew Chadwick, Augmenting Democracy: Political Movements and Constitutional Reform during the Rise of Labour, 1900–1924 Norman Fairclough, New Labour, New Language? David Coates, Models of Capitalism Alexander de Conde, Presidential Machismo: Executive Authority, Military Intervention, and Foreign Relations Bernard Crick, Essays on Citizenship Nick Pearce and Joe Hallgarten, (eds) Tomorrow's Citizens: Critical Debates in Citizenship and Education Christian Joppke, Immigration and the Nation State: The United States, Germany and Great Britain Robert Geyer, Christine Ingebritsen and Jonathon W. Moses, (eds) Globalization, Europeanization and the End of Scandinavian Social Democracy? John Campbell, Margaret Thatcher, vol. 1: The Grocer's Daughter     

The political advantage of a volatile market: the relationship between Presidential popularity and the ‘investor fear gauge’

• The Chicago Board Options Exchange's (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX) is the premier established benchmark of near‐term market volatility. It is also referred to as the ‘investor fear gauge’ because it provides a consistent measure of market turmoil. We examine the VIX as it relates to Presidential popularity as indicated by the Gallup Organization's ongoing poll of US Presidential approval ratings. Our analysis indicates that the expected volatility of the market is highly related to Presidential approval. We then examine the strength and implications of this relationship in order to further establish the link between the economy and Presidential approval.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

BOOK REVIEW ESSAY

Claude E. Barfield. 1982. Science Policy from Ford to Reagan: Change and Continuity
W. Henry Lambright. 1985. Presidential Management of Science and Technology: The Johnson Presidency .
Kenneth W. Thompson (Ed.). 1987. The Presidency and Science Advising Volume III.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: America's Choice 2000: Entering a New Millenium edited by William Crotty. The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election by James W. Ceaser and Andrew E. Busch.     

The Presidency and the Executive Branch

Books reviewed: John P. Burke, Presidential Transitions: From Politics to Practice. Paul Kengor, Wreath Layer or Policy Player? The Vice President's Role in Foreign Policy. Joel Aberbach and Bert Rockman, In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive.     

The 2000 American Presidential Election

Abstract

The 2000 Presidential election was one of the longest, most expensive and closest in American history. It was the Presidential election that exposed the flaws (or genius) of the electoral college system, demonstrated the imperfections of media dependency on exit polls and quick election calling, and showed how a third party candidate with just two percent of the popular vote could make the difference in the crucial state of Florida. Democrats lost states they should have won; Republicans lost every big city and most of their suburbs; and the Florida election came down to a five-to-four muddled decision by the Supreme Court. Americans collectively learned a great civics lesson: that even in a bitter, controversial contest, our candidates accept defeat graciously; the simple act of voting is not so simple; and that for all its shortcomings, the electoral college did work.     

Expectations for the 1982 mid-term U.S. congressional elections: An historical perspective

The record of U.S. mid-term elections since the mid-1940s is examined. The author explores the relationship of their results to those in the preceding Presidential year. Differential turnout does not seem to affect the outcome. Presidential popularity matters less than expected. But change in disposable income goes far to explain the scale of the electoral changes recorded. Party loyalty matters less for chances of re-election than mere incumbency. In 1982 reapportionment will help the Republicans but President Reagan's unpopularity will hurt them.     

Introduction: The 2016 U.S. presidential election and its understated stability

The articles in this special section analyze the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. While the election has been referred to as historic, voting data instead emphasize its underlying stability. The articles in this section explore four broad themes in the raised in the election: issues, media, candidates, and pluralism. Together, these papers help examine the implications of stable voting patterns electing a candidate favoring disruption.     

Presidents and prime ministers

An American, he has lived in Great Britain for many years and has been studying problems of political leadership in America and Europe for three decades. His books include Presidents and Prime Ministers; Managing Presidential Objectives; Understanding Big Government;and, forthcoming from Chatham House, The Post-Modern Presidency: The World Closes in on the White House.     

A NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE — A NEW PARLIAMENTARY ORDER*

Abstract: The physical design and location of the existing Parliament House has influenced the evolution of Australia's parliamentary system. The new Parliament House will exert a new set of influences. The Executive will assume an entrenched position within its own enclave and Ministers will be physically more remote from backbenchers. The physical arrangements of the Executive entrance and the Prime Minister's suite will encourage a presidential-style status in the office. But the architecture also emphasises the public's access to Parliament in the spirit of Burley Griffin's original conception. There is likely to be a strong “congressional” impetus arising from the prominence given to committee room space and backbencher facilities. Tensions between the Executive and Parliament will be exacerbated. Changes to procedures and to parliamentary administration are also likely to flow from the new layout and facilities. The new building will provide an impetus for widespread parliamentary reform.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
RICHARD A. CHAPMAN and MICHAEL HUNT eds., Open Government: A Study of the Prospects of Open Government Within the Limitations of the British Political System
PETER A. HALL, Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France.
DONALD F. KETTL, Government By Proxy .
JOHN A. ROHR, To Run a Constitution: the Legitimacy of the Administrative State .
FOREST CHISMAN and ALAN PIFER, Government for the People: The Federal Social Role. What It Is. What It Should Be .
JOHN HART The Presidential Branch .     

Mini-Symposium: The Federal Executive Budget

James Edwin Kee, Introduction
Bernard Pitsvada, The Executive Budget: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed
Naomi Caiden, Comments
Louise Fisher, Comments
Lance T. LeLoup, Comments     

Building the Administrative State

Books reviewed in this article:
Daniel P. Carpenter, The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862–1928
David E. Lewis, Presidents and the Politics of Agency: Design Political Insulation in the United States Government Bureaucracy, 1946–1997