Synopses & Reviews
With one party controlling the presidency and the opposing party controlling Congress, the veto has inevitably become a critical tool of presidential power. Combining sophisticated game theory with unprecedented data, this book analyzes how divided party presidents use threats and vetoes to wrest policy concessions from a hostile Congress. Case studies of the most important vetoes in recent history add texture to the analysis, detailing how President Clinton altered the course of Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolution. Offering the first book-length analysis to bring rational choice theory to bear on the presidency, Veto Bargaining is a major contribution to our understanding of American politics in an age of divided party government.
Review
"This pathbreaking study should be in the library of every serious student of US national politics." Choice
Review
"Veto Bargaining is already an amazing rich, path-breaking analysis that offers many significant contributions to the literature...I highly recommend this book to those interested in the American presidency, Congress, and executive legislative relations more generally." Journal of Politics"The volume offers a valuable application of rational choice theory and makes significant contributions to an understanding of presidential-congressional relations...The volume arguably is the most important work on presidential power since Stephen Skowronek's The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton. This pathbreaking study should be in the library of every serious student of US national politics." Choice March 2001"Unique in its approach and methodology...Future veto studies owe a debt of gratitude to him for discovering many interesting trends." Congress &the Presidency
Synopsis
With one party controlling the presidency and the opposing party controlling Congress, the veto has inevitably become a critical tool of presidential power. Combining sophisticated game theory with unprecedented data, this book analyzes how divided party presidents use threats and vetoes to wrest policy concessions from a hostile Congress. Case studies of the most important vetoes in recent history add texture to the analysis, detailing how President Clinton altered the course of Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolution. Offering the first book-length analysis to bring rational choice theory to bear on the presidency, Veto Bargaining is a major contribution to our understanding of American politics in an age of divided party government.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-283) and index.
Table of Contents
1. Divided government and interbranch bargaining; 2. A natural history of veto bargaining, 1945-1992; 3. Rational choice and the presidency; 4. Models of veto bargaining; 5. Explaining the patterns; 6. Testing the models; 7. Veto threats; 8. Interpreting history; 9. Conclusions.