Woodrow Wilson's Critique of Popular Leadership: Reassessing the Modern-Traditional Divide in Presidential History

Bimes, Terri; Skowronek, Stephen

doi:10.2307/3235274

Cited by 16 publications

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“…Moreover, as Calabresi andYoo (1997, 2003) have argued, presidents since the founding have wielded "unitary" executive powers. Some "premodern" presidents have made sweeping use of executive authority, as the examples of Jefferson, Jackson, and Lincoln illustrate (see, for example, Skowronek 1997; Bimes and Skowronek 1996).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and the “New” American Party System

Milkis

Rhodes

2007

PPS

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Scholars have long expressed concern that the ascendance of the modern presidency since the New Deal and World War II, by hastening the decline of political parties and fostering the expansion of the administrative state, portended an era of chronically low public engagement and voter turnout and an increasingly fractious and impotent national politics. Presidents' inattentiveness to the demands of party-building and grassroots mobilization, coupled with their willingness to govern through administration, were seen as key obstacles to the revitalization of a politics based in widespread political interest and collective responsibility for public policy. This article argues that George W. Bush's potent combination of party leadership and executive administration, foreshadowed by Ronald Reagan's earlier efforts, suggests the emergence of a new presidential leadership synthesis and a “new” party system. This new synthesis does not promise a return to pre-modern party politics; rather, it indicates a rearticulation of the relationship between the presidency and the party system. The erosion of old old-style partisan politics allowed for a more national and issue-based party system to develop, forging new links between presidents and parties. As the 2006 elections reveal, however, it remains to be seen whether such parties, which are inextricably linked to executive-centered politics and governance, can perform the critical function of moderating presidential ambition and mobilizing public support for party principles and policies.Sidney M. Milkis is Professors of Politics (smm8e@cms.mail.virginia.edu) and Jesse H. Rhodes is a doctoral student (jhr7t@cms.mail.virginia.edu) at the University of Virginia. The authors would like to thank the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript for their thoughtful and constructive comments.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and the “New” American Party System

Milkis

Rhodes

2007

PPS

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“…This study does not attempt to supplant scholarly interpretations of the traditional versus the modern presidencies (Greenstein 2000;Bimes and Skowronek 1998) or presidential development of policy and agenda (Hill 1998;Cohen 1995;Ragsdale 1987;Brace and Hinddey 1991;Parry-Giles and Parry-Giles 2001). Nor does it debate the changes in campaigns, elections, congressional relations, and political parties as examined by Kumar (2001), Peabody (2001), Powell (1999), Dahl (1990), Gamm andSmith, (1998), Lowi (1985), Skowronek(l993), and Schlesinger (1973) that have inarguably had significant impact on the institution of the presidency and the operation therein.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Modern Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Presentation and Development of the State of the Union Address

Teten

2003

Pres Stud Q

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n i s study look at the structuraland rhetorical changes in the state of the union addressji-om George Washington to Bill Clinton. The authorfinds that beginning with early-twentieth-centuv presidents, the length of address drops sipificantly and the president increasingly attempts to i d n t h himseras one of the public in the speech. Among other things, thefindings suggest three distinctperiods in the evolution of the state of the union address: afoundingperiod, a traditionalperiod, and a modern period, H m e v q although early-twentieth-century presidencies may exhibit change in delivery and style of the state of the union address, it is unclear whether this can be credited to a specific modern rhetorical innovation or whether the traditionaVmodern paradip may necessitate rearahation. Keywort&: modern presidency; traditionalpresideng; stde of the union address; J e B q Elis; rhetorical presideng He [the president] shaU3om time to timegive to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shaUjudge necess a y and expedient. -US. Constitution, Article 11, Section I11More than the founders ever envisioned, the presidency is at the center of policy debates. From "going public"' to acheve his plans and goals as described by Samuel Kernell 1. Goingpublicis a term referring to the president's appeal to the public as an alternative to bargaining with the legislature or attempting to use conventional rules of government to accomplish goals.Ryan L. Teen is a Ph. D. candidate inpolitical science at Vanderbilt Uniuersi&. His research interests include presidential rhetoric and politid behavior. AUTHOR 'SNOTE: 7Ke authorwouldliketo thank Enya Eten forhersupportandencour~ement. Ihe author would also like to thank John Gen; Bruce Oppenheimn; Richard Pride, Lany Gnzn and Amy Car&, as well as the Presidential Studies Quarter& editor and anonymous miewer5 for a.ll of their thoughfil comments and suggestions. Residential StudiesQaartmb 33, no. 2 vane)

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“…But Wilson was an idealist, or as Keynes saw it, someone whose naïveté made him an unwitting accessory to European power struggles after World War I, laying the groundwork for the escalation of Japan's imperial designs in East Asia and Germany's nascent nationalism (Keynes 1920). Wilson's focus on shielding the methods of policy execution from their political context has certainly been critiqued (Bimes and Skowronek 1996), but has found an enduring resonance within public administration (Overeem 2008). The idea that a public servant, equipped with expertise and professional norms, could execute the policies of the government without regard for politics has hovered in the nether realms as a sort of normative wish rather than as an empirical reality (Meier and Bohte 2007;Svara 2008;Waldo 1948;Overeem 2008).…”

Section: "Public" and Its Modern Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Thinkers and Their Influence on the Conception of the Public Servant: Reconciling Philosophical Roots

Tao

2021

The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant

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One of the major criticisms leveled at public administration scholarship is its latent bias toward philosophies and pracices from Western traditions. As more governments in non-Western arenas push forward with reforms to try and improve service provision and professionalism within their organizations, this bias creates well-documented disconnects between proposed "best practices" and their anticipated outcomes. In order to counter this bias, it would be useful to present and compare some of the more influential philosophies that drive codes of conduct within public organizations that are not well known within the context of Western public administration. In this chapter, I will focus on some foundational philosophies both from within and outside of the Western canon, and the links, broken and otherwise, between these philosophies and democratic contexts. I propose that this comparison leaves fertile ground for future studies of the nexus between culture and administration, and the implications for how public servants define themselves and prepare for the tasks ahead in an increasingly interconnected and global context.

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Woodrow Wilson's Critique of Popular Leadership: Reassessing the Modern-Traditional Divide in Presidential History

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and the “New” American Party System

George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and the “New” American Party System

Evolution of the Modern Rhetorical Presidency: Presidential Presentation and Development of the State of the Union Address

Deep Thinkers and Their Influence on the Conception of the Public Servant: Reconciling Philosophical Roots

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