2 presidency
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Presidency4--RiseoftheModernPresidency2CBureaucracy.pptxThe President’s Informal Powers I
the Modern State and the Bureaucracy
Formal Versus Informal Powers
Formal powers: those powers enumerated or implied by the constitution.
Informal powers: those powers the president has gained through changes in the federal bureaucracy, communication technology, and campaigning.
The constitutional presidency is not powerless, but on paper, the President is clearly second to Congress.
The growth in presidential power comes mainly from informal rather than formal powers.
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Key changes increasing Informal Powers
Growing role for government growing executive branch
Delegation doctrine and implementation
Agenda-setting
Executive orders
Bargaining tools
Changes in media, communication, and culture
Media technology
President as national symbol
Changing presidential campaign styles
Going public
The Institutional Presidency 1
The power of the presidency is tied to how much the federal government does.
19th century: some strong presidents, but weak presidency
Little or no executive branch
Andrew Jackson: Strong President, Weak Presidency
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The Institutional Presidency 2
The increase in government responsibility after the New Deal required a regulatory state—a modern state part of a modern presidency. Some key concepts:
1. Delegation doctrine: Congress creates program that executive agency must carry out
Social Security checks
Environmental Protection Agency testing water, air
The Institutional Presidency 3
2. The creation of a robust executive branch also gives the president considerable power in implementing the law. Some examples:
Theodore Roosevelt, Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Obama v. Trump, Affordable Care Act
Obama v. Trump, immigration policy
The Institutional Presidency 4
3. Growing role of national government also means increasingly president has agenda-setting powers
National budget
State of the Union address
Presidential election campaigns
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The Institutional Presidency 5
4. Executive orders: presidents have considerable power to reorganize the executive branch or change its rules and policies.
Often delegated by Congress, e.g. Trump’s 2019 “emergency acts” re: the Wall
Has the force of law
Can be overturned by law (but may need veto override) or by the next President
Executive Order 9981: President Truman Desegregates the Armed Forces in 1948
Executive Order example: “Mexico City Policy”
Neustadt and Bargaining
5. Another important consequence of the institutional presidency: the president now has many resources for bargaining with members of Congress and interest groups.
Neustadt’s theory: presidents must bargain and convince other political actors that your interests are their interests
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Neustadt’s Theory
Presidents must use reputation, “prestige” and most importantly, bargaining:
Reputation: healthy fear of president needed, bargains are honored, detractors punished.
Prestige: how the public will assess Congressional interactions with president?
Bargaining: giving pork, appointments to members of Congress, providing positive media attention, opportunities for credit-claiming.
Under this view, a good president is a good politician
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Trump and Neustadt
Positives
Trump is popular with most Republicans
Trump punishes detractors, particularly in his own party
Negatives
Entered as popular vote loser
Reputation as erratic bargainer
Little incentive for Democrats to bargain
Trump sometimes bargains poorly, e.g. 2019 government shutdown over wall
Bargaining Has Gotten Harder
Since Neustadt wrote in the 1960s, bargaining has become more difficult.
Why?
Weaker party leaders/party control of members
Growing polarization
More interest groups to bargain with
More transparency
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