Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power

Presidents are expected to demonstrate strong leadership skills and are quickly criticized when they do not. But what, precisely, does leadership entail? And how can we better analyze and understand the complexities of presidential leadership?

A collection of compelling analyses by eminent scholars, Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power looks at presidential leadership from a variety of perspectives, integrating cutting-edge research on both the incentives and the constraints presidents face in their attempts to lead the country. These original readings contextualize presidential leadership in relation to Congress, the courts, the bureaucracy, the media, and the public. Furthermore, the essays include discussions on executive decision making and both domestic and national security issues.

With its central role in the American political system yet limited capacity to influence the public's view, the presidency presents an intriguing subject for inquiry. Editors Bert A. Rockman and Richard W. Waterman examine different frameworks for understanding the conditions of leadership and provide an evaluation of the leading theories of presidential leadership.

Presidential Leadership will serve as an important new resource for judging presidents in office by offering novel ways of thinking about the presidency and by providing a comprehensive examination of presidential leadership.

Bert A. Rockman is Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Purdue University. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions (OUP, 2006), The George W. Bush Presidency: Appraisals and Prospects (2004), and coauthor of In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive (2000). He has also served as editor of Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions.

Richard W. Waterman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. He is author of The Changing American Presidency (2003) and coauthor of The Image-Is-Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership (1999), Enforcing the Law: The Case of the Clean Water Acts (1996), and Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy (1994).