Presidential Unilateral Power

Lowande, Kenneth; Rogowski, Jon C.

doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-102043

Cited by 25 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…the public could respond more negatively to the use of power on unfamiliar issues, but it is also possible that the public is more accepting of presidential action on less salient topics. Finally, the empirical findings offered here suggest the opportunity to revisit theoretical models of unilateral power (see also Lowande and rogowski 2021). incorporating presidents' anticipation of the potential public response to the use of power would provide a fuller understanding of how presidents are responsive to americans' procedural attitudes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Unilateral Inaction: Congressional Gridlock, Interbranch Conflict, and Public Evaluations of Executive Power

Reeves

Rogowski

2021

Legislative Studies Qtrly

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Presidents routinely overpromise and underdeliver, especially amid partisan polarization, narrow congressional majorities, and persistent gridlock. As Congress routinely stymies their legislative agendas, presidents consider alternative courses of action. We study public reactions to unilateral power in the context of congressional inaction. While some research suggests that presidents cannot afford to pass up opportunities to act, more recent scholarship indicates that the public holds negative views of unilateral power and disapproves of its use. Survey experiments conducted with a national sample of Americans provide evidence of the costs of unilateral power. Across three policy areas and between‐ and within‐respondent analyses, the public responds negatively when presidents exercise unilateral power rather than accept the status quo, even among individuals who share the president's policy views. Our results suggest that while legislative gridlock may increase the appeal of unilateral power, its use may come at a public cost.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Unilateral Inaction: Congressional Gridlock, Interbranch Conflict, and Public Evaluations of Executive Power

Reeves

Rogowski

2021

Legislative Studies Qtrly

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“…Lowande and Rogowski (2021) point out that this literature is “noisy,” riddled with divergent specifications and data sets that lead to mixed and sometimes conflicting results. Nevertheless, some general findings have emerged over time.…”

Section: Not So Different: Trump and The Drivers Of Administrative Ac...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Not by the Numbers: Evaluating Trump's Administrative Presidency

Potter¹,

Rudalevige²,

Thrower³

et al. 2022

Pres Stud Q

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We examine President Trump's use of administrative tools related to policy making—including executive orders, memoranda, proclamations, signing statements, and rulemaking—and compare him to presidents since Eisenhower. Overall, we find that Trump was not that different from his predecessors and from what theories of unilateral output predict—at least, not by the numbers. However, the content of his actions were noteworthy in two ways. First, the use of these tools as public relations instruments accelerated during his presidency. Second, Trump's rulemaking activities represented a departure from established norms, though not necessarily a durable one. Our study provides valuable historical context on the Trump presidency and highlights the virtues and limitations of using the volume of administrative output to understand the administrative presidency.

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“…Despite broader use of executive authority over time (Lowande & Rogowski, 2021), presidents face additional constraints in the context of the environment. Not only has congressional gridlock blocked the passing of most substantive environmental legislation since the amendment to the Clean Air Act in 1990, but Congress has also failed to address the complexity of the green state (Klyza & Sousa, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a large body of research on unilateral power and calls from scholars to measure unilateralism at the directive or policy level (see Lowande & Rogowski, 2021, for a comprehensive review), less is understood about whether the same conditions that affect the frequency of executive orders issued broadly apply in the context of environmental policymaking. Does congressional gridlock that persists across multiple administrations, for example, affect the frequency of environmental executive orders?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going green or making green? The effects of partisanship and inflation on environmental executive orders, 1945−2020

Fitz

2023

Pres Stud Q

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While a growing body of scholarship examines US presidential unilateralism, there remains less focus on policy‐specific areas of unilateral action. Given environmental politics is a particularly constrained and contentious issue area, understanding the conditions that affect the frequency of presidents' environment‐related unilateral activity requires a more nuanced examination. As such, this study draws upon existing theories of unilateralism to explore the relationship between environmental executive orders, Congress, the economy, and environmental disasters in the United States between 1945 and 2020. A broad examination of environmental executive orders provides evidence to suggest that while Democratic presidents are more likely to issue environmental executive orders compared to Republican presidents, presidents are generally more likely to issue environmental executive orders in response to higher inflation. A second analysis using a subset of these data further indicates Democratic presidents are more likely to issue environmental executive orders following technological disasters and that the frequency of these orders increases when their partisanship changes from that of the previous president. Collectively, these findings serve to broaden our current understanding of US presidential unilateralism by providing important linkages between executive power, the environment, and the economy.

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Presidential Unilateral Power

Cited by 25 publications

References 75 publications

Unilateral Inaction: Congressional Gridlock, Interbranch Conflict, and Public Evaluations of Executive Power

Unilateral Inaction: Congressional Gridlock, Interbranch Conflict, and Public Evaluations of Executive Power

Not by the Numbers: Evaluating Trump's Administrative Presidency

Going green or making green? The effects of partisanship and inflation on environmental executive orders, 1945−2020

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