The Presidency

At the core of the presidency are the chief executive's efforts to lead, especially in performing the key functions of agenda setting, decision making, coalition building, and policy implementation. Sometimes the president can take unilateral action to achieve his goals, and the extent of the president's powers is a continual focus of debate and adjudication. More often, however, the White House must persuade others-members of Congress, the public, the press, the bureaucracy, and foreign leaders-to support his policies.

Agenda setting includes establishing national and international priorities and determining the issues to which the president devotes scarce political capital. In a system of shared powers, other officials, especially members of Congress, must attend to issues on the president's agenda if the president is to influence public policy.

The president also needs the bureaucracy, because public policies are rarely self-executing. As the title of chief executive implies, the president has responsibility for implementing government policies and requires a staff of experts who have an understanding of the substantive issues, institutional processes, and political implications involved in turning statutes, executive orders, and the like into services and benefits for the nation. To succeed, presidents must communicate their decisions clearly to the bureaucracy, provide it the resources (personnel, funds, authority, and equipment) it requires, motivate members of the bureaucracy and overcome any resistance, organize the White House and the bureaucracy effectively, and follow-up on their orders.

George C. Edwards III is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the George R. and Julia Blucher Jordan Chair in Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University. He is also editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly and author or editor of 21 books on the presidency and American government, including Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America (Yale University Press, 2004). He can be reached at gedwards@tamu.edu and 979-845-9764.

Recent Publications on the Presidency

Canes-Wrone, Brandice. 2006. Who Leads Whom? University of Chicago Press.

Edwards, George C. III. 2006. Governing by Campaigning: The Politics of the Bush Presidency. Longman.

Jacobsen, Gary C. 2006. A Divider, Not a Uniter: George W. Bush and the American People. Longman.

Fisher, Louis. 2005. Military Tribunals and Presidential Power. University Press of Kansas.

Rudalevige, Andrew. 2005. The New Imperial Presidency. University of Michigan Press.

Fisher, Louis. 2004. Presidential War Power, 2nd ed. rev. University Press of Kansas.

Auerswald, David and Forrest Maltzman. 2003. "Policymaking through Advice and Consent: Treaty Considerations by the United States Senate." Journal of Politics 65 (November): 1087-1110.

Edwards III, George C. 2003. On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit Yale University Press.

Howell, William G. 2003. Power without Persuasion Princeton University Press.

Lewis, David E. 2003. Presidents and the Politics of Agency Design (Stanford).

Peterson, David, Lawrence J. Grossback, James A. Stimson, and Amy Gangl. 2003. "Congressional Response to Mandate Elections." American Journal of Political Science 47 (June): 411-426.

Rudalevige, Andrew. 2002. Managing the President's Program Princeton University Press.

Aberbach, Joel D. and Bert A. Rockman. 2000. In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the Federal Executive. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Jacobs, Lawrence R. and Robert Y. Shapiro. 2000. Politicians Don't Pander. University of Chicago Press.