The Power of American Governors: Winning on Budgets and Losing on Policy

With limited authority over state lawmaking, but ultimate responsibility for the performance of government, how effective are governors in moving their programs through the legislature? This book advances a new theory about what makes chief executives most successful and explores this theory through original data. Thad Kousser and Justin H. Phillips argue that negotiations over the budget, on the one hand, and policy bills on the other are driven by fundamentally different dynamics. They capture these dynamics in models informed by interviews with gubernatorial advisors, cabinet members, press secretaries, and governors themselves. Through a series of novel empirical analyses and rich case studies, the authors demonstrate that governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but that what they're bargaining over – the budget or policy – shapes both how they play the game and how often they can win it. In addition to assessing the power of American governors, this book contributes broadly to our understanding of the determinants of executive power.

Thad Kousser is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has written or edited several books, including Politics in the American States (10th edition, 2012), The Logic of American Politics (5th edition, 2011) and Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism (2005). He is a recipient of the UCSD Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award, as well as the Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.

Justin H. Phillips is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. His research has been published in the American Political Science Review and the American Journal of Political Science. He is a fellow at the Columbia University Applied Statistics Center and at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.