Trajectory of power : the rise of the strongman Presidency / William G. Howell, Terry M. Moe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Howell, William G., author.

Moe, Terry M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents--United States.

Presidents.

Executive power--United States.

Executive power.

Executive-legislative relations--United States.

Executive-legislative relations.

Populism.

United States--Politics and government.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (v, 317 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2025]

Summary:

"In Trajectory of Power, leading political scientists William Howell and Terry Moe provide a sweeping account of the historical rise of presidential power, arguing that it has now grown to the point where, in the wrong hands, it threatens to subvert American democracy and replace it with a de facto system of strongman rule, whether led by Donald Trump or someone else. The book shows that, for much of the twentieth century, Republican and Democratic presidents pursued power in very similar ways and almost always within democratic bounds. But Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan, in a transformation that has grown increasingly extreme over time, have gone beyond the "normal" incentives that have traditionally shaped presidential behavior--and still shape the behavior of Democratic presidents--to pursue a presidency of such expansive unilateral power, and with such disregard for basic democratic requirements, that it puts democracy at serious risk. Trajectory of Power traces this divergence in approach to the backlash of conservatives against the administrative state, and to their epiphany that a war on big government could only be waged through a presidency of extraordinary power. With this vision in mind, Reagan's Justice Department pioneered the Unitary Executive Theory, which justified vast expansions of unilateral presidential power and was further radicalized over the decades as the Republican Party became more ideologically extreme, more populist, more anti-system, and ultimately more supportive of a strongman presidency. Timely, urgent, and original, Trajectory of Power reveals how the presidency has been profoundly transformed during the modern era--and why it now puts our democracy in imminent danger." -- Publisher's website.

Contents:

Chapter 1: The Dawning of the Administrative State and the Modern Presidency

Chapter 2: The Symmetric Logic

Chapter 3: The Origins of the Asymmetric Logic

Chapter 4: The Asymmetric Logic Takes Hold

Chapter 5: The Asymmetry Goes Extreme

Chapter 6: Democracy and the Strongman Presidency.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-691-27661-7

OCLC:

1522810489