23: Presidency Research

Daniel E. Ponder, Drury University, deponder@drury.edu

Presidency scholars will find the conference theme, "Representation and Renewal," the conferennce theme, is implicated in the rich body of work that together make up the study of the presidency. The theme and its interaction with our section is especially appropriate for the 2012 presidential election year, when the public will no doubt see and hear the call of many candidates to "renew America" or to "represent all" of the great cross section of the United States. Indeed, the subfield of presidency research has profited from a rich and recent debate between some of our leading scholars on the nature of presidential representation. The Presidency Research Group calls for paper and panel proposals that consider the presidency in American politics and the world, and addressing all manner of presidential activity including elections, public policy, public opinion, inter-institutional relationships, presidential development, representation (however defined), comparative executives, and the like. Rigorous, innovative proposals are welcome, and I encourage papers from a variety of theoretical, methodological, and empirical approaches, particularly those that incorporate the conference theme.