Government delivery mechanisms and services are increasingly being shifted to the private sector where executive values of efficiency and effectiveness reign supreme whereas legislative and judicial institutional values are confined to traditional government agencies. New Public Management (NPM) has ironically initiated a process of diffusing legislative and judicial institutional values into the contract state through reactive legislative enactments and judicial opinions that attempt to reinforce the constitutional character of public action. An integration of NPM and legislative and judicial constitutional values is sought to reach a balancing point in the American state. Last, prescriptions are provided for Congress, the judiciary, and public administrators to reach a balancing point that will ensure the protection of constitutional values while valuing effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, NPM may create a potential paradox—rather than the state becoming minimalist in nature, NPM will increase the influence of the state through the diffusion of constitutional values.

Seeking to close the gap between expectations and capacity, presidents have utilized a broad interpretation of executive power to control administrative affairs. However, the emergence of a post-New Public Management environment characterized by loosely constructed networks and a surge of governmental activity has required an evolution in the tools needed to govern. In exploring this dynamic through a constitutional governance model, it becomes evident that a new ethos of presidential governance is starting to develop that is marked by a mixture of governing alone and governing with partners. This dynamic potentially enables more effective and responsible execution of public laws.