Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action

"This book is at once important and readable! Howell takes a long step beyond the modern literature that stresses the Presidency and legislation. He focuses instead upon initiatives a President can take with relative freedom from Congress and customary deference from courts; namely, executive orders: what? when? why? (also: why not?). Howell's model-building and discussions of his findings with its aid are themselves models of incisive analysis."--Richard E. Neustadt, Harvard University, author of "Preparing to be President" "William Howell persuasively demonstrates that policymaking in the United States cannot be studied within a single institutional arena in isolation. In this innovative study, he draws on theories of executive-legislative and executive-judicial relations to build a model of presidential unilateral action and tests his claims on impressive original datasets. While few will agree with all of Howell's arguments, his book will likely set both an agenda and a standard for future studies of policymaking and the separation of powers."--Nolan McCarty, Princeton University "This is one of the best books on the presidency in recent years. The theory is clear and sensible, the data superb, and the case studies on-point and fascinating. It is also a pleasure to read."--Charles Cameron, Columbia University, author of "Veto Bargaining" "Power without Persuasion" will be an enormously influential book on the presidency and American political institutions. It promises to change scholars' thinking about presidential policymaking and, in doing so, become a catalyst for future work. The rigor of the analysis is high, and the writing and presentation are clear. The book willbe widely assigned to students."--Brandice Canes-Wrone, Northwestern University