Rethinking the Administrative Presidency : Trust, Intellectual Capital, and Appointee-Careerist Relations in the George W. Bush Administration

Resh, William G.

ISBN 10: 1421418495 / ISBN 13: 9781421418490

Edité par Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015

A propos de cet article

N° de réf. du vendeur 23749896-n

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Rethinking the Administrative Presidency : Trust, Intellectual Capital, and Appointee-Careerist Relations in the George W. Bush Administration
• Éditeur: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Date de parution: 2015
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1421418495
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781421418490
• Reliure: Couverture souple
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The first book to explore the tension between presidents and federal agencies from the perspective of careerists in the executive branch.

Winner of the Herbert A. Simon Book Award of the American Political Science Association

Why do presidents face so many seemingly avoidable bureaucratic conflicts? And why do these clashes usually intensify toward the end of presidential administrations, when a commander-in-chief’s administrative goals tend to be more explicit and better aligned with their appointed leadership’s prerogatives? In Rethinking the Administrative Presidency, William G. Resh considers these complicated questions from an empirical perspective.

Relying on data drawn from surveys and interviews, Resh rigorously analyzes the argument that presidents typically start from a premise of distrust when they attempt to control federal agencies. Focusing specifically on the George W. Bush administration, Resh explains how a lack of trust can lead to harmful agency failure. He explores the extent to which the Bush administration was able to increase the reliability—and reduce the cost—of information to achieve its policy goals through administrative means during its second term.

Arguing that President Bush's use of the administrative presidency hindered trust between appointees and career executives to deter knowledge sharing throughout respective agencies, Resh also demonstrates that functional relationships between careerists and appointees help to advance robust policy. He employs a "joists vs. jigsaws" metaphor to stress his main point: that mutual support based on optimistic trust is a more effective managerial strategy than fragmentation founded on unsubstantiated distrust.

À propos de l?auteur

William G. Resh is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy.