Presidential Power in the United States: Emerging Research

The US president occupies a position of global importance, and the office of the presidency itself has grown in strength within the American political system.   Nevertheless, the president and the executive branch often require the cooperation of other branches of government in order to decide upon and enact policy.  This conference, which brings together top presidential scholars from around the country, will examine the limits on the president's ability to make policy effectively independent of other branches, as well as the president's ability to influence the decisions of other branches through appointments, bargaining, and persuasion.

Click here for the program overview.

Conference papers:

“Presidential Appointments and Trust in Government”
Gary Hollibaugh, University of Georgia

“Binders Full of Judges: A Model of the Interdependency
of Appointments to the United States Federal Judiciary”
Alicia Uribe, Washington University

“Can the President Move the Supreme Court?”
Richard Anderson, David Cottrell, and Charles Shipan, University of Michigan

“Presidential Rhetoric and the Public Agenda: The Nonlinear Mediating Effects of Popularity”
Jeff Cohen, Fordham University

“Up the Hill and Across the Aisle: Discovering the Path to Bipartisanship in Washington”
Matthew Beckman, UC Irvine 

"Presidential Oversight and Regulatory Delay: How Politics and Organizational Capacity Influence OIRA Rule Review"
Sharece Thrower, University of Pittsburgh

“Presidential Prescriptions for State Policy: Obama’s Race to the Top Initiative”
Will Howell, University of Chicago

“How Unitary an Executive?: Transaction Costs in the Formulation of Executive Orders”
Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin College