The Opportunistic President: How US Presidents Determine Their Legislative Programs

The president is the most influential policy actor in US politics, and his legislative program greatly influences Congress's agenda. Yet little research has focused on what factors affect the president's choices when constructing his agenda. We develop a theory that determines when a president will include an issue in his program. We hypothesize that presidents structure their agendas around the congressional calendar for consideration of expiring laws and salient issues. Using data over 28 years and across 12 policy areas, we find presidents build their programs around these policymaking opportunities. We assert that presidential agendas are less driven by individual priorities than previous accounts have concluded.     

Elections In Iraq – 30 January 2005: An Assessment

Divide and Lose. By Michael Ionides. Published by Geoffrey Bles. 1960. Pp. 271. Sources and index. 21s.

Nasser's New Egypt. By Keith Wheelock. Foreign Policy Research Institute No. 8. Praegar, New York. Pp. 326. $6.

Personal Column. By Sir Charles Belgrave. Hutchinson and Co., Ltd. Pp. 248. Map, illustrated, indexed. 30s.

Israel Resurgent. By Professor Norman Bentwich. Published by Ernest Benn, Ltd. 1960. Pp. 238. Map, index and bibliography. 27s.

Women and the New East. By Ruth Frances Woodsmall. The Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C. 1960. Pp. 436. Map, index, illustrations. $5.50.

Daughters of Allah. By Henny Harald Hansen. Translated from the Danish by Reginald Spink. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1960. 81½ × 6½ in. Pp. 190. Illustrations and sketch map. 21s.

Crossroads. Land and Life in South‐west Asia. By George B. Cressey. Lip‐pingcott Co., Chicago, New York, Philadelphia. 1960. 7 × 10 in. Pp. 593. Illustrations, maps, tables and charts. Index. $12.

The Chronicle of Petros di Sarkis Gilanentz. Concerning the Afghan invasion of Persia in 1722, the siege of Isfahan and the repercussions in Northern Persia, Russia and Turkey, translated from the original Armenian and annotated by C. O. Minasian, with an introduction and additional notes by L. Lockhart. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Armenian Library, Lisbon. 1959. Pp. xxiii, 77. No price indicated.

The Sabres of Paradise. By Lesley Blanch. John Murray, London, 1960. Pp. 480. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. 30s.

The Politics of the Developing Areas. Editors : Gabriel A. Almand and James S. Coleman. Published by Princeton University Press and Oxford University Press. Pp. 576. Indexed. 80s.

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Karachi Through a Hundred Years. By Herbert Feldman. Published by the Oxford University Press. Pp. 238. Illustrated and indexed. 27s. 6d.

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The Way and the Mountain. By Marco Pallis. Peter Owen, Ltd., London. Pp. 216. Illus. and appendices. 30s.

Russia and China. By J. V. Davidson‐Houston. Robert Hale, Ltd., London, 1960. Pp. 200. Maps, index. Illus. 21s.

Les Mouvements Nationaux chez les Musulmans de Russie: le “Sultangaliev‐isme” au Tatarstan. By Alexandre Bennigsen and Chantai Quelquejay. Mouton and Co. Paris, 1960.

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Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1941. By George F. Kennan. Van Nostrand, New York. 1960. Pp. 191. $1.25.

Özbekcha‐Ruscha Lughat/Uzbeksko‐Russkiy Slovar’. (Uzbek‐Russian Dictionary.) Compiled by the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek S.S.R. Chief Editor, Professor A. K. Borovkov. State Dictionary Publishing House, Moscow. 1959. Pp. 839. 27 Rubles.

An Introduction to the Turkmen Language. By G. K. Dulling. Published by Central Asian Research Centre. Pp. 48. Price 15s.

The Economic Development of Communist China, 1949–1958. By T. J. Hughes and D. E. T. Luard. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, O.U.P. 1959. Pp. 223. Maps and index. 22s. 6d.

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Ballads and Stories from Tun‐Huang. By Arthur Waley. Published by George Allen and Unwin. Pp. 266. Index. 25s.