Debuting in its first edition , The Contemporary American President explores the potential and limitations of presidential influence in times of rising public expectation for the office and the declining ability of presidents to meet it. It focuses on six major areas concerning the presidency - selection, power, accountability, decision making, personality, and leadership - and offers an appreciation of the challenges of the office as the institution attempts to function in an increasingly controversial political environment.

Nicol Rae's engaging account of the Republican revolutionaries' freshman year in Congress persuasively demonstrates that the precepts set forth by Madison in Federalist 10 and 51 are still in force in our remarkably stable political system. The 73 Republican freshmen who entered the House of Representatives after the 1994 election were a well-organized group with majority status and a commitment to change. This book examines the extent to which they were successful in redirecting policy and reforming the institutions of representative government -- and the extent to which those same institutions moderated, and even frustrated, efforts to introduce radical, rapid -- indeed revolutionary -- change. Contrasts are drawn both with the role of the Republican freshmen in the Senate and with the power of the President as manifested in the 1995-96 budget battle. The book is based on interviews conducted by the author when he was an APSA Congressional Fellow in the offices of Rep. George P. Radanovich, president of the freshman Republican class, and Sen. Thad Cochran, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

First Published in 1993. This volume is based upon an April 1990 Carl Albert Center conference commemorating the bicentennial of the United States Congress and the centennial of the University of Oklahoma. The conference was entitled, Back to the Future: the United States Congress in the Twenty-first Century. Its focus was on the nature of change in Congress and on the likely direction of congressional change as the new century approaches.

Once hailed as a revolutionary change in U.S. federal aid policy that would return power to state and local governments, General Revenue Sharing was politically dead a decade later. Bruce A. Wallin now offers the only complete history of the General Revenue Sharing program — why it passed, why state and local governments used it the way they did, and why it died. He examines its unique role in the history of U.S. federalism and explores its relevance to intergovernmental aid policy at the turn of a new century. This book is crucial to understanding the changed environment of U.S. intergovernmental relations in the 1990’s and makes a strong case for reconsidering a program of federal unrestricted aid.

The Clinton scandal consumed the better part of a year of American public life, bitterly dividing the nation and culminating in a constitutional crisis. In this book, thoughtful, nonpartisan essays provide an insightful and lasting analysis of one of the major political events of our time. Here leading scholars explore the long-reaching constitutional and political implications of the scandal: how it will affect the presidency, the law, and the political process. A first group of chapters considers effects of the scandal on institutions: the presidency, Congress, the courts, the independent counsel statute, executive privilege, and the impeachment process itself. A second section addresses political factors: public opinion, the media, and presidential character and personality. A concluding essay broadly examines the implications of the scandal for governance. These far-reaching essays address such issues as risks posed to Congressional political careers, the prospect of future presidents being subject to civil suits, the pros and cons of Kenneth Starr's investigation, the role of the media in breaking and then shaping the story, and ways of reforming the system to handle the unacceptable private behavior of future presidents. A provocative book for readers concerned with how our government copes with such a challenge, and an essential reader for courses on the presidency or American government, this collection will stand the tests of both time and rigorous analysis.

Decades after the resignation of President Nixon, the impact of the Watergate scandal continues to affect the institutional power of the president of the United States. This landmark event is a major subject of in-depth study at the high school and college levels. Now, CQ Press has published the definitive resource on this event for students researching this political era in U.S. history. Eyewitness to Watergate traces the events, characters, and outcomes of one of the greatest scandals in U.S. political history. No other work for the high school researcher contains so rich a collection of primary government documents, vital news stories from the time period, and expert, unbiased commentary and analysis. Through a unique combination of primary source documents and historical journalism from the period, Eyewitness to Watergate weaves together and engaging narrative of the scandal and its aftermath. Headnote materials explain the context of the documents, draw parallels to contemporary events in U.S. government, and provide updated information on the key players involved in the scandal. Primary source materials include transcripts from hearings, impeachment proceedings, special prosecutor’s activities, federal court proceedings, and presidential communications. This comprehensive yet affordably priced new volume will serve as a valuable resource in high school, undergraduate, and public libraries.

DIVExamines how international organizations are used as a means of bypassing domestic opposition to policy change /div