Restraining the Energetic Executive: Can Administrators Legitimately Check Presidential Power?

Cook, Brian J.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3132495

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…First, it posits public opinion as a potential incentive for unilateral power. This hypothesis contrasts with accounts that depict administrative action as a “shadowy subterranean world” (Cook 2018, 34) that eludes popular accountability. It also contrasts with scholarship that laments the perceived weakening of institutional checks on presidential power (e.g., Shane 2009).…”

Section: Public Priorities and Unilateral Actionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Public Opinion and Presidents’ Unilateral Policy Agendas

Rogowski

2023

American J Political Sci

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Unilateral power is an important source of policy change for contemporary presidents. In contrast with scholarship that examines the institutional constraints on presidents’ exercise of unilateral authority, I consider presidents’ unilateral behavior in a framework of political accountability. I argue that presidents have incentives to incorporate the public's policy priorities in their unilateral agendas. I examine this account using panel data on executive orders and public opinion across issue areas from 1954 to 2018. Across a variety of model specifications and estimation strategies, I find evidence that patterns of executive action reflect the public's policy priorities. Presidents issue greater numbers of unilateral directives on issues that gain public salience, particularly on issues that are more familiar to the public and when issuing more policy‐significant directives. These findings suggest that accountability mechanisms structure how presidents exercise unilateral power and have normative implications for considering presidential unilateralism in a separation‐of‐powers system.

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Section: Public Priorities and Unilateral Actionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Public Opinion and Presidents’ Unilateral Policy Agendas

Rogowski

2023

American J Political Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Restraining the Energetic Executive: Can Administrators Legitimately Check Presidential Power?

Cited by 1 publication

References 25 publications

Public Opinion and Presidents’ Unilateral Policy Agendas

Public Opinion and Presidents’ Unilateral Policy Agendas

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