Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Kriner ◽  
Eric Schickler
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Real ◽  
Congressional Investigations

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book’s main themes. It begins with a discussion of why Congress can investigate when it cannot legislate. It then explains how Congressional investigations of the executive branch have shaped American politics and the origins and evolution of Congress’s investigative power. The chapters that follow identify the conditions under which Congress uses its investigative power, and to demonstrate that the real or anticipated exercise of this power significantly constrains the president and produces tangible changes in policy outcomes. As a result, investigations offer Congress a check on presidential aggrandizement that is often more effective than that provided by its legislative function.

The Direct Influence of Congressional Investigations on Policy Outcomes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Kriner ◽  
Eric Schickler
Keyword(s):  
Executive Branch ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Direct Influence ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
White House ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Congressional Investigations ◽  
Congressional Action

This chapter focuses on two direct pathways through which congressional investigations can produce concrete changes in the specific policy area targeted by the investigation. First, investigations may provide the impetus for new legislation that otherwise would not have passed in its absence. Investigative hearings can spur congressional action and generate political pressure on the president and members of his party to vote for and sign legislation that they may have otherwise resisted through the filibuster or veto. Second, even when investigations are not followed by legislative action compelling the administration to change its behavior, high-profile committee inquiries into executive-branch actions may bring enough political pressure to bear on the White House that it opts to make concessions rather than continue a bruising public fight with the legislature.

The “Israel Lobby” and American Politics

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Lieberman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
Apparent Influence

In their recent book,The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that American support for Israel does not serve American interests. Nevertheless, they observe that American foreign policy regarding the Middle East, especially in recent years, has tilted strongly toward support for Israel, and they attribute this support to the influence of the “Israel lobby” in American domestic politics. Their book is principally an attempt to make a causal argument about American politics and policymaking. I examine three aspects of this argument—its causal logic, the use of evidence to support hypotheses, and the argument's connection with the state of knowledge about American politics—and conclude that the case for the Israel lobby as the primary cause of American support for Israel is at best a weak one, although it points to a number of interesting questions about the mechanisms of power in American politics. Mearsheimer and Walt's propositions about the direct influence of the Israel lobby on Congress and the executive branch are generally not supported by theory or evidence. Less conclusive and more suggestive, however, are their arguments about the lobby's apparent influence on the terms and boundaries of legitimate debate and discussion of Israel and the Middle East in American policymaking. These directions point to an alternative approach to investigating the apparent influence of the Israel lobby in American politics, focusing less on direct, overt power over policy outcomes and more on more subtle pathways of influence over policy agendas and the terms of policy discourse.

Investigating the President

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Kriner ◽  
Eric Schickler
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Theater ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Presidential Power ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Approval Rating ◽  
Congressional Investigations ◽  
Over Time

Although congressional investigations have provided some of the most dramatic moments in American political history, they have often been dismissed as mere political theater. But these investigations are far more than grandstanding. This book shows that congressional investigations are a powerful tool for members of Congress to counter presidential aggrandizement. By shining a light on alleged executive wrongdoing, investigations can exert significant pressure on the president and materially affect policy outcomes. This book constructs the most comprehensive overview of congressional investigative oversight to date, analyzing nearly 13,000 days of hearings, spanning more than a century, from 1898 through 2014. The book examines the forces driving investigative power over time and across chambers, and identifies how hearings might influence the president’s strategic calculations through the erosion of the president’s public approval rating, and uncover the pathways through which investigations have shaped public policy. Put simply, by bringing significant political pressure to bear on the president, investigations often afford Congress a blunt, but effective check on presidential power—without the need to worry about veto threats or other hurdles such as Senate filibusters. In an era of intense partisan polarization and institutional dysfunction, the book delves into the dynamics of congressional investigations and how Congress leverages this tool to counterbalance presidential power.

Introduction

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Sniderman ◽  
Edward H. Stiglitz
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Elite Level

This introductory chapter provides a background of party identification. The reality of American politics is not the same as it was a half century ago. American politics at the elite level has, in a word, polarized. Republican means conservative; Democrat means liberal. During the same period of time, voters' party identifications have become aligned with the ideological outlook of their parties. The largest number of Democrat supporters identify themselves as liberal; a still larger number of Republican supporters identify themselves as conservative. A result of this process is that the very same commitment that used to signal unthinking loyalty—party identification—has become the basis for coherently thinking about politics for a large number of voters. The specific purpose of this study is to propose a new theory of party identification—a reputational theory of party identification.

Three Graces

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ita Mac Carthy
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Classical Tradition ◽  
Real World ◽  
Love Poetry ◽  
The Real ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
The Arts ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Poetry And Music

This introductory chapter analyses the April fresco depicting the three Graces of classical tradition in the Salone dei mesi (Room of the months) of Ferrara's Palazzo Schifanoia. The Allegory of April transforms the abstract qualities of grace into an eloquent verbal language that is read from top to bottom by following the line of their spiritual passage from the heavens to deserving mortals below. Close allies of beauty and faithful escorts to Love, these qualities inspire the arts of love, poetry, and music. Through the sign of Taurus, they infuse the powers of liberality into the hearts of the elect. An ideal rather than a realistic portrait of universal grace and sociability, though, the fresco also conveys the real-world dearth of its qualities. For although the fresco's painter, Francesco del Cossa, paints grace with grace, he fails to receive grace in return. He shares in a problem that fifteenth-century poets, artists, male courtiers, and court ladies knew well: the problem of what happens when the grace personified and idealized in the figure of the three Graces meets with nothing but ingratitude.

Investigations and Public Opinion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Kriner ◽  
Eric Schickler
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
American People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Congressional Investigations ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
Investigative Activity

This chapter proposes and empirically tests a general mechanism through which congressional investigative activity could affect presidential behavior and policy making more broadly: by influencing the president’s well of support among the American people. It proceeds in four parts. First, it describes two mechanisms through which committee investigations of executive misconduct are well positioned to shape levels of public support for the president. The empirical analysis then begins by asking a basic, but essential pre-cursor question: does the public generally support Congress employing its investigative powers to uncover and pursue allegations of abuse of power by the executive branch? Having answered this question in the affirmative, the analysis continues by merging the database of congressional investigative activity described in Chapter 2 with more than sixty years of public opinion data measuring support for the president. The chapter then presents the results of several original survey experiments that isolate the influence of congressional investigations on public opinion independent of potential confounding factors.

Does Central Bank Independence in Arab Oil Exporters Matter?

2019 ◽  
pp. 119-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoda Selim
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Macroeconomic Policy ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Central Bank Independence ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
Weak Institutions

This chapter shows that central banks in Arab oil exporters are not independent. Low independence reflects institutional arrangements that allow the executive branch to influence, interfere, even dominate central bank operations. In a context of weak institutions, central bank independence (CBI) has not always mattered for macroeconomic policy outcomes. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) central banks delivered a better macroeconomic policy performance than those of the populous group because the credible peg discouraged discretion. Soft peg arrangements in the populous economies, in a context of weak institutions and discretionary policymaking and no de facto independent central bank, led to disappointing monetary policy outcomes. As oil exporters adapt to a new normal of low oil prices, the sustainability of fixed exchange rate regimes may not be guaranteed without sound macroeconomic institutions. Stronger institutions and effective accountability mechanisms are needed to insulate central banks from political pressures. In the short term, a rules-based framework could help.

scholarly journals Collaborative Versus Prescriptive Legislating and Rulemaking: A Case Study of the Driver's License Provisions in the REAL ID Act of 2005

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Susan E. Randolph
Keyword(s):  
Executive Branch ◽  
Personal Identification ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
The Real ◽  
Driver's License ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Global War ◽  
Real Id Act

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and America's engagement in the Global War on Terror have added urgency to long-standing Congressional efforts to strengthen the country's system for establishing personal identification. Randolph examines the REAL ID Act of 2005, which legislates uniform requirements for state drivers' licenses. She describes the way the REAL ID Act became law and is being implemented by the executive branch and outlines the objections of state and local government officials to its driver's license provisions.

Executive-Legislative Relations in Democratic Regimes

2020 ◽  
pp. 546-565
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson ◽  
Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon
Keyword(s):  
External Environment ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Presidential Systems ◽  
The Way

To make lasting policy executives must get the legislature to pass their proposals. How do executives form working relationships with the legislative branch, and when do they seek control over rather than negotiation with the legislature to achieve their preferred policy outcomes? Scholars of presidential, parliamentary, and semi-presidential systems have sought to answer this question from a variety of angles. We consider how executives use and manage coalitions to achieve their preferred outcomes; the constitutional or chamber rules that allow them to influence which bills become law; and the way changes in the external environment can lead to shifts in the executive’s strategy. We conclude by offering suggestions for extending the study of executive-legislative relations including advocating for more comparisons across different institutional structures and party systems and a recognition that increased diversity in the executive branch may impact executive-legislative relations.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mason ◽  
Iwan Morgan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Politics ◽  
The United States

In outlining the goals of the volume as a whole, this introductory chapter sets out the concept of the liberal consensus as a paradigm to understand American politics and society during the postwar years. Most influentially defined by Godfrey Hodgson in his 1976 book America In Our Time, the term has been employed (if in contrasting ways) by many historians of the United States. In recent years, historians have increasingly questioned the extent to which consensus characterized America during this period. Taking on different themes, the essays in the volume seek to reconsider the paradigm’s utility.

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