scholarly journals Structured-Induced Deference or Equal and Coordinate Actor: Congressional Influence on American Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-118
Author(s):  
Eric Paul Svensen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Ideal Point ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Perhaps no separation of powers issue receives as much scholarly attention as the near monopoly modern presidents exert over foreign policy. Yet, despite an extensive literature on the subject, scholars have drawn different conclusions as to the causes of this change, finding that lawmakers either defer to the president or are equal and coordinate actors on foreign policy. Using the separation of powers as a guide, I attempt to rectify these differences and demonstrate instances in the roll call record where examples of both explanations are most evident. Recovering ideal point estimates between the 87th and 112th Congress on votes highlighting competing governmental objectives, findings show that the chamber median frequently shifts toward the president on foreign policy votes in the final passage stage and during the treaty process. However, evidence also shows Congress is less likely to defer to the president on domestic legislation and appropriations.

Where Does the President Stand? Measuring Presidential Ideology

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn Treier
Keyword(s):  
Ideal Point ◽  
Revealed Preferences ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Point Estimates

Although estimating the revealed preferences of members of Congress is straightforward, estimating the position of the president relative to Congress is not. Current estimates place the president as considerably more ideologically extreme than one would expect. These estimates, however, are very sensitive to the set of presidential positions used in the roll call analyses for the 103rd through 109th Congresses. The president often obtains more moderate ideal point estimates relative to Congress when including positions based on signing bills into law.

Integrating Voting Theory and Roll Call Analysis: A Framework

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Clinton ◽  
Adam Meirowitz
Keyword(s):  
Ideal Point ◽  
Testing Procedure ◽  
Formal Modeling ◽  
Legislative Politics ◽  
Federal Aid ◽  
Voting Theory ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Legislative Studies ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
Hypothesis Testing Procedure

Scholars of legislative studies typically use ideal point estimates from scaling procedures to test theories of legislative politics. We contend that theory and methods may be better integrated by directly incorporating maintained and to be tested hypotheses in the statistical model used to estimate legislator preferences. In this view of theory and estimation, formal modeling (1) provides auxiliary assumptions that serve as constraints in the estimation process, and (2) generates testable predictions. The estimation and hypothesis testing procedure uses roll call data to evaluate the validity of theoretically derived to be tested hypotheses in a world where maintained hypotheses are presumed true. We articulate the approach using the language of statistical inference (both frequentist and Bayesian). The approach is demonstrated in analyses of the well-studied Powell amendment to the federal aid-to-education bill in the 84th House and the Compromise of 1790 in the 1st House.

American Foreign Policy and the Separation of Powers

1952 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach ◽  
Daniel S. Cheever ◽  
H. Field Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
American Foreign Policy

U.S. Foreign Policymaking and National Security

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shoon Murray ◽  
Jordan Tama
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
The World ◽  
The Media ◽  
The U.S

This chapter revisits the old paradox that the U.S. president is perhaps the most powerful person in the world and yet is constrained domestically by other political actors and a centuries-old constitutional framework. The chapter discusses key actors that shape American foreign policy, including the president, presidential advisers, the federal bureaucracy, Congress, the courts, interest groups, the media, and public opinion. Presidential candidates often call for major shifts in foreign policy, but once they are in office presidents are constrained by strategic and fiscal realities, the bureaucracy’s preference for continuity, America’s separation of powers system, rising partisanship, the fragmented media, and the openness of U.S. institutions to societal pressures. The result is that modern presidents struggle to build and maintain the domestic backing needed to carry out their foreign policy agenda.

The Bifurcation of American and Non-American Perspectives in Foreign Policy

1984 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 553-557
Author(s):  
Ole R. Holsti
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Henry Kissinger ◽  
The Third ◽  
Stanley Hoffmann ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Foreign Scholar ◽  
American Authors ◽  
Shed Light

The bifurcation of American and non-American perspectives in foreign policy analysis is a large topic to which justice cannot be done in limited space. To reduce the subject to somewhat more manageable scope, the focus here is on teaching and. more specifically, on undergraduate courses on American foreign policy. After examining some evidence that might shed light on the question, this essay will suggest some reasons, both within and outside the discipline, for this development, as well as some possible ways of avoiding undue parochialism by ensuring that non-American perspectives get some hearing.This is not the place to undertake extensive content analyses of foreign policy texts, but even a cursory glance at several recent, widely used volumes indicates that many students are exposed almost wholly to American perspectives. Materials cited in footnotes and as suggested readings are overwhelmingly written by American authors. That pattern also extends to three of the best recent collections of readings on American foreign policy. The first includes 32 essays, not one of which is by a non-American, all nine chapters in the second are by Americans, and only one of 12 essays in the third is co-authored by a foreign scholar. In fairness, it should be pointed out that these materials hardly present a homogeneous viewpoint on the sources, conduct, and consequences of American diplomacy; a collection of readings that includes essays by George Kennan, Carl Gershman, Henry Kissinger, and Stanley Hoffmann can hardly be accused of presenting a single outlook. Moreover, the diversity of choices among available texts provides a broad range of perspectives, from moderately hard-line to distinctly revisionist.

Unofficial Officials

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayna L. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Personal Networks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Research Organizations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Long Range Planning ◽  
The Government

This chapter looks at the think tanks of policymaking. In the early wartime period, official long-range planning was stunted by a lack of government resources and interest in the subject. The bureaucrats in charge of American foreign policy came to rely on information and expertise from outside the government as they formed their views. Specialist research organizations, later known as “think tanks,” leaped to fill gaps in official expertise. Eventually, think tank staffs became unofficial officials, taking full part in the development of policy. They provided reports, recommendations, and accessible information, informed by their specific institutional viewpoints. They also maintained personal networks between members and policymakers and created space for officials and private experts from the business and scholarly communities to discuss ideas.

American Foreign Policy and European Integration

1953 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajo Holborn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Recent History ◽  
European Federation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
American Policy ◽  
The Moment

The prospect of a European federation has aroused great enthusiasm in the United States, but at the same time the difficulties encountered in its realization have generated a host of frustrations. It is not unusual, after five years of costly effort, to hear that the moment of crisis has arrived; that we must either push ruthlessly toward the goal, or abandon not only integration but possibly assistance to Europe as well. Perhaps these are the only alternatives that confront the United States. But before we fasten on to them irrevocably, it may be well to ask once more: What is the nature of the area that we are attempting to integrate, and how has our thought on the subject developed? Some appreciation of the recent history and problems of Europe, and of the circumstances that inspired postwar American policy, may help to determine whether or not the range of choice is as narrow as it looks at present to the United States.

American Foreign Policy and the Separation of Powers.

1953 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 394
Author(s):  
C. J. C. ◽  
Daniel S. Cheever ◽  
H. Field Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
American Foreign Policy
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