The Unsustainable Presidency: Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Beyond

ISBN-13: 9781137371812 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 204 str.

William F. Grover; Joseph G. Peschek

Opis

The Unsustainable Presidency develops a structural theory of the office by challenging and redefining the twin imperatives upon which the modern chief executive was constructed: unlimited economic growth and national security through the expansion of empire. Neither goal is sustainable in a world of global climate change and the waning of US military supremacy. Thus the modern presidency is an unsustainable office that as currently constituted is incapable of offering solutions to the problems confronting America and the world. The book's distinctive contributions center on building a critique of all leading theories of the presidency; forging an analysis of economic growth and national security policies as pursued in the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama; and pointing a way out of the catastrophic bind that confronts the Twenty-First Century president.

Recenzje

"The Unsustainable Presidency is more than a breath of fresh air, it is hurricane of high velocity scholarship that will loosen the foundations of orthodox policy analysis. Grover and Peschek document and analyze the most important and virtually neglected pattern in recent presidential politics: the remarkable continuity of policy during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. In doing so they focus our attention on the 'deep structure' of policy formation, located in the relationships between government and business. The vivid portrait that emerges clarifies the structural constraints that assure that, if normal politics prevail, the application of presidential power will relentlessly conform to the interests and demands of the corporate class." - Michael Schwartz, Professor, SUNY Stony Brook, USA

"Maybe it's time to stop kidding ourselves, argue Grover and Peschek in their bracing new study: the endless arguments about strong versus weak presidents miss the broader structural context, the political economy imperatives of modern society and capitalism that animate the entire system the president no less than other political actors. This provocative new work raises necessary questions at a time when solutions seem ever further from our (or presidents') grasp." - Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor, SUNY Cortland, USA and author, Saving the Constitution from Lawyers (2008)

"The Unsustainable Presidency stands out from other books on the institution through its 'deep structure' approach to political economy and national security. Grover and Peschek provide a powerful critique of the three most recent presidents that is sure to provoke animated discussion in the classroom." - Bruce Miroff, State University of New York, Albany, USA

Spis treści

Contents Preface 1. Theories of the American Presidency 2. Beyond Institutions-as-Structure: A Deeper Structural Perspective 3. Bill Clinton and the Neoliberal Presidency 4. The Conservative Mirage: George W. Bush and Empire Waning 5. Change You can Believe in? The Barack Obama Presidency 6. Toward a Deep Presidency: Coming to Terms with our Constitutional Catastrophe-in-Chief Endnotes Index

O autorze

William F. Grover is Professor of Political Science at Saint Michael's College in Vermont, USA. He is the author of The President as Prisoner: A Structural Critique of the Carter and Reagan Years and co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics. He is a former American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

Joseph G. Peschek is Professor of Political Science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is the author of Policy-Planning Organizations: Elite Agendas and America's Rightward Turn and co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics. He is a former Editor of the journal, New Political Science.  In 2015, he received the Agnes Hulburd Conger Prize for his work in The Unsustainable Presidency.