Presidential Leadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal

In this expanded third edition, renowned scholar Stephen Skowronek, addresses Donald J. Trump's presidency. Skowronek's insights have fundamentally altered our understanding of the American presidency. His "political time" thesis has been particularly influential, revealing how presidents reckon with the work of their predecessors, situate their power within recent political events, and assert their authority in the service of change.

A classic widely used in courses on the presidency, Skowronek's book has greatly expanded our understanding of and debates over the politics of leadership. It clarifies the typical political problems that presidents confront in political time, as well as the likely effects of their working through them, and considers contemporary innovations in our political system that bear on the leadership patterns from the more distant past. Drawing out parallels in the politics of leadership between Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt and between James Polk and John Kennedy, it develops a new and revealing perspective on the presidential leadership of Clinton, Bush, Obama, and now Trump.

In this third edition Skowronek carefully examines the impact of recent developments in government and politics on traditional leadership postures and their enactment, given the current divided state of the American polity, the impact of the twenty-four-hour news cycle, of a more disciplined and homogeneous Republican party, of conservative advocacy of the "unitary theory" of the executive, and of progressive disillusionment with the presidency as an institution.

A provocative review of presidential history, Skowronek's book brims with fresh insights and opens a window on the institution of the executive office and the workings of the American political system as a whole. Intellectually satisfying for scholars, it also provides an accessible volume for students and general readers interested in the American presidency.

Author: Stephen Skowronek
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 01/30/2020
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780700629435

About the Author
Skowronek, Stephen: - Stephen Skowronek is Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political Science at Yale University. In addition to The Politics Presidents Make--winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize and the Richard E. Neustadt Prize--he is author of Building a New American State and coauthor with Karen Orren of The Search for American Political Development and The Policy State: An American Predicament.