The Presidency and Political Science: Two Hundred Years of Constitutional Debate (Interpreting American Politics) - Hardcover

Tatalovich, Professor Raymond; Engeman, Professor Thomas S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801873215 ISBN 13: 9780801873218

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This is the first book to survey the intellectual history of presidential scholarship from the Founding to the late 20th century. Reviewing the work of over sixty thinkers, including Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Neustadt, James McGregor Burns, and Theodore Lowi, the authors identify six central questions, the answers to which can help form a theory of presidential power:

· Does presidential power derive from the prerogatives of office or from incumbency? · Does presidential influence depend upon force of personality, rhetorical leadership, or partisanship? · Does presidential leadership depend upon historical context or is regime-building manifested through political, institutional, and constitutional developments? · Does presidential leadership vary between domestic and foreign affairs? · Does the president actively or passively engage the legislative process and promote a policy agenda? · Does the organization of the executive branch service presidential leadership?

Arguing that three paradigms have dominated the history of presidential scholarship -- Hamiltonianism, Jeffersonianism, and Progressivism -- the authors conclude that today's understanding of the presidency is characterized by a "new realism and old idealism." This book will appeal to students and scholars as well as to general readers with an interest in the American presidency.

About this title

About the Author:

Raymond Tatalovich is a professor and Thomas S. Engeman is an associate professor in the political science department at Loyola University Chicago.

Review:

"A thorough investigation of the breadth of presidential scholarship, and the [authors] place that thought in a useful framework that asks pertinent questions to be answered by the scholars of various eras and schools of thought... Graduate students beginning a study of the presidency will find this tome especially useful as an introduction to the issues facing presidential scholarship." -- Jon Schaff, Perspectives on Political Science

"Innovative and informative... A critical acquisition for all presidential scholars and college libraries." -- Choice

About this edition

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0801873215
• ISBN 13: 9780801873218
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288