Sign-In
Cart
False Front: The Failed Promise of Presidential Power in a Polarized Age
Hardcover
Series: Chicago Studies in American Politics
General Political ScienceUnited States Politics
ISBN13: 9780226837239
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: Oct 22 2024
Pages: 232
Weight: 1.21
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A provocative new perspective on presidential power.
Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change--today, nothing seems out of reach for the president's pen. But after all the press releases, ceremonies, and speeches, shockingly little gets done. The American presidency promises to solve America's problems, but presidents' unilateral solutions are often weak, even empty.
Kenneth Lowande argues this is no accident. The US political system is not set up to allow presidents to solve major policy problems, yet it lays these problems at their doorstep, and there is no other elected official better positioned to attract attention by appearing to govern. Like any politician, presidents are strategic actors who seek symbolic wins. They pursue executive actions, even when they know that these will fail, because doing so allows them to put on a compelling show for key constituencies. But these empty presidential actions are not without their costs: they divert energy from effective government--and, over time, undermine public trust. Drawing on thousands of executive actions, news coverage, interviews, and presidential archives, False Front shows that the real root of presidential power is in what presidents can get away with not doing.
Also in
United States Politics
Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race
Fording, Richard C.
Schram, Sanford F.
Soss, Joe
Paperback
Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism
Wolin, Sheldon S.
Paperback
Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future
Shapiro, James
Hardcover
Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets
Kretzmann, John P.
Paperback
Scandinavians in the State House: How Nordic Immigrants Shaped Minnesota Politics
Bergman, Klas
Paperback
Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump
Haberman, Maggie
Swan, Jonathan
Hardcover
The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader
Murray, Melissa
Hardcover
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy
Perryman, Skye
Paperback
Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America
Murphy, Chris
Hardcover
Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded Usaid
Enrich, Nicholas
Hardcover
The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon
Schweizer, Peter
Hardcover
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Rothstein, Richard
Paperback
Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution
Kiernan, Denise
Hardcover
Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today's Supreme Court
Isgur, Sarah
Hardcover
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
Clyburn, Jim
Hardcover
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department
Davis, Aaron C.
Leonnig, Carol
Hardcover
Department of Fate: The Promise, the Power, and the Collapse of America's Most Consequential Institution
Maddow, Rachel
Hardcover
Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution
Hemingway, Mollie
Hardcover
Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile
Naparstek, Aaron
Goodyear, Sarah
Gordon, Doug
Hardcover
The Promise of a Nation: Commemorating 250 Years of Patriotism, Resilience, and Aspirations from the National Collection
Smithsonian Institution
Hardcover
The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the Maga Movement
Hanson, Victor Davis
Hardcover
So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country
Alito, Samuel A., Jr.
Hardcover
American Caesar: How Theocrats and Tech Lords Are Turning America Into a Monarchy
Onishi, Bradley B.
Hardcover
All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump
Scaramucci, Anthony
Hardcover
The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America's Courts
Wagner, Alex
Hardcover
The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats - And Our Response - Will Change the World
Bremmer, Ian
Paperback
Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America (Large Print Edition)
Weissmann, Andrew
Paperback
The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Rosen, Jeffrey
Hardcover
Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement
Canellos, Peter S.
Hardcover
Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People
Bowie, Nikolas
Renan, Daphna
Hardcover
A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization
Jennings, Scott
Hardcover
The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History
Peterson, Mark
Hardcover
Don't Tell the President: The Best, Worst, and Mostly Untold Stories from Presidential Advance
Becker, Jean
Collamore, Tom
Hardcover
Trump's Ten Commandments: Strategic Lessons from the Trump Leadership Toolbox
Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey
Hardcover
How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will (Large Print Edition)
Kennedy, John
Paperback
Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City
Ansfield, Bench
Hardcover
When Companies Run the Courts: How Forced Arbitration Became America's Secret Justice System
Ballou, Brendan
Hardcover
Common Sense in the Age of Trump: A Guide to Keeping Our Republic
Collins, Ronald K. L.
Huxtable, Russell W.
Sparrow, Paul M.
Paperback
Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends
Schweizer, Peter
Paperback
Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Large Print Edition)
Kiernan, Denise
Hardcover
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Chomsky, Noam
Herman, Edward S.
Paperback
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (Tenth Anniversary Edition)
Speck, Jeff
Paperback
Princeton Review AP U.S. Government & Politics Premium Prep, 25th Edition: 6 Practice Tests + Digital Practice Online + Content Review
The Princeton Review
Paperback
The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon (Large Print Edition)
Schweizer, Peter
Paperback
The Democracy We Must Keep: Seven Founders, Nine Documents, and the Ideas That Shaped America
Stewart, David O.
Paperback
The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight
Ralston, Jon
Hardcover
How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood
Moskowitz, Pe
Paperback
Tripwires: 15 Twenty-First-Century Events That Undermined American Democracy--And How to Reclaim It
Patterson, Richard North
Hardcover
The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters
Nichols, Tom
Paperback
When You Come at the King: Inside Doj's Pursuit of the President, from Nixon to Trump
Honig, Elie
Hardcover
This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U. S. History (Large Print Edition)
Gage, Beverly
Hardcover
The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation Into the National Security State
Hochman, Brian
Guariglia, Matthew
Paperback
The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History
Prakash, Saikrishna Bangalore
Hardcover
We Are The Bad Guys: How The U.S. Wages War, Controls Economies, and Calls It Freedom
Lester, Michael
Paperback
Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One
Carter, Majora
Paperback
How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in
Flyvbjerg, Bent
Gardner, Dan
Hardcover
What Does the Constitution Actually Say?: A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy Is Supposed to Work
Sheehan, Ben
Paperback
Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science
Morone, James a.
Blumenthal, David
Hardcover
AP U.S. Government and Politics Premium, 2027: Prep Book with 6 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (Barron's AP Prep)
Lader, Curt, M. S. Ed
Paperback
The Declaration Of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill Of Rights & Amendments
Fathers, Founding
Paperback
Kicking the Hornet's Nest: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East from Truman to Trump
Zoughbie, Daniel E.
Hardcover
Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden
Dugard, Martin
O'Reilly, Bill
Hardcover
When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
Ganz, John
Paperback
Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See
Mayhew, Kelly
Miller, Jim
Davis, Mike
Paperback
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
Klinenberg, Eric
Paperback
Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
Levitsky, Steven
Ziblatt, Daniel
Paperback
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Rothstein, Richard
Hardcover
How the Democrats Lost America: Making Sense of the 2024 Election and the Future of American Politics
Ferson, Scott
Hardcover
Glory, Grief, and the Gavel: An Inside Guide to Running for Speaker of the House
Leganski, John
Hardcover
The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City
Madrigal, Alexis
Paperback
The Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve
Morial, Marc
Paperback
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President
Lee, Bandy X.
Paperback
The Death and Life of Gentrification: A New Map of a Persistent Idea
Brown-Saracino, Japonica
Hardcover