The President and Congress: Collaboration and Combat in National Policymaking

With the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, followed by the 1994 Republican takeover in Congress, and the reelection of both in 1996, presidential-congressional relations have been anything but dull. A variant of divided government -- Democratic president/Republican Congress -- unimaginable only a decade before, has provided new opportunities to examine the conventional wisdom about national policymaking. Not in the modern era has a Congress attempted to lead national government as much as the 104th Congress did in 1995-96. Yet Clinton's political revival only a year later reminds political scientists of the necessity to look systematically for long term forces and trends. Within this framework, the cases and analysis in this book can help to increase our understanding of the fascinating and crucial policy relationship between the president and Congress. The book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date, and balanced view of the collaborative efforts of two major branches of national government in making public policy. The authors, one a presidential scholar and the other a congressional scholar, view the two branches as coequals in policymaking and examine four patterns of policymaking: presidential leadership, congressional leadership, consensus/cooperation, and deadlock/ extraordinary resolution. They also evaluate policy results in the areas of foreign policy, civil rights, economic and budget policy, and social. Including the most recent research on Congress, the president, and divided government, the book reflects the important changes of the 1990s. Policymakers, political scientists, professionals in both the public and private sectors.