Presidential Power: Unchecked & Unbalanced

By Benjamin Ginsberg and Matthew Crenson

Book Overview

Recent presidents have exploited the power of the American presidency more fully than their predecessors--and with greater consequence than the framers of the Constitution anticipated. This book, in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger's great work The Imperial Presidency (1973), explores how American presidents--especially those of the past three decades--have increased the power of the presidency at the expense of democracy. Matthew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg provide a fascinating history of this trend, showing that the expansion of presidential power dates back over one hundred years. Presidential Power also looks beyond the president's actions in the realm of foreign policy to consider other, more hidden, means that presidents have used to institutionalize the power of the executive branch.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393064883
• ISBN13: 9780393064889
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

awsome

This book was great, I had to read it for my AP government class and write a 4 page paper on it.. I got an A+!!

The long haul on the resurgence of the imperial presidency

There has been a flurry of books about what Charlie Savage in Takeover - which is one of them - has termed the 'return of the imperial presidency'. Now while most of the books in particular seem to blame the Bush-Cheney administration for the usurpation of executive powers, Crenson and Ginsberg provide a much needed historical and structural analysis of the phenomenon, going back to the beginnings of the Republic. Crenson and Ginsberg convincingly argue that one of the more structural causes of the rise of presidential power is the weakening of the American party system. In the old days parties had a much stronger grip on the selection of presidential candidates. Nowadays, due to the primary system, campaigns are all about personalities who do not merely want to serve their country but aspire nothing less than change history. So if you want to go beyond the last eight years and the post 9/11 analysis of the rise of executive power, this is your best pick.