Cover; Half Title; Series Page; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Tables; Preface; 1 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY; The Legislature and the Executive; Evaluating Institutional Performance; Political Institutions and Good Public Policy; Meeting Democratic Criteria; Meeting Managerial Criteria; The Challenge; 2 THE U.S. CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK; Good Government; In the Beginning There Were Legislatures; The Trouble with Legislatures; A New Constitutional Design; A Popularly Elected House of Representatives; A Strong and Separate Executive
Separation of Powers Versus Checks and BalancesThe Necessary Constitutional Means; A Constitution Against Government; An Invitation to Struggle; 3 THE TRANSFORMED PRESIDENCY AND THE EVOLVED CONGRESS; Contexts; Institutional Change; The Transformation of the Presidency; The Evolution of the Congress; Congressional and Presidential Approaches to Public Policymaking; Conclusion; 4 THE MACHINERY OF PRESIDENTIAL DOMINATION; Presidential-Congressional Models; In Search of Presidential Primacy; The Machinery of Presidential Policymaking; Determinants of Presidential Success with Congress; Conclusion
5 THE FAILURE OF PRESIDENTIAL DOMINATION: STALEMATE AND BAD PUBLIC POLICYThe Record of Presidential Success; Presidential Resources and Congressional Resistance; Fragmentation and Stalemate; When Stalemate Is Avoided: Institutional Performance and Managerially Good Public Policy; When Stalemate Is Avoided: Institutional Performance and Democratically Sound Public Policy; Conclusion; 6 LIVING WITH STALEMATE; Crisis and Commission: Social Security; Automatic Devices: Indexing and Gramm-Rudman-Hollings; Automatic Devices and the War Power: Lebanon; The Legislative Veto; Administrative Strategies
Presidential Imperialism: NicaraguaBreaking Stalemates and Good Public Policy; Conclusion; 7 BEYOND STALEMATE; The Argument in Review; What Can Be Done?; Reforming the Presidency; Reforming the Congress; Joining the Congress with the Presidency; The Role of Government; Concluding Thoughts; Notes; References; Index
Summary
This book looks at the relationship between Congress and the president and how this interaction shapes public policy. The relationship between the president and the Congress has been under discussion as long as the U.S. Constitution has existed
