Czars in the White House

The Rise of Policy Czars as Presidential Management Tools

Justin S Vaughn author Jose D Villalobos author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Michigan Press

Published:30th Oct '17

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Czars in the White House cover

Combining public administration and political science approaches to the study of the American presidency and institutional politics, Justin S. Vaughn and José D. Villalobos argue that the creation of policy czars is a strategy for combating partisan polarization and navigating the federal government’s complexity. They present a series of in-depth analyses of the appointment, role, and power of various czars: the energy czar in the mid-1970s, the drug czar in the late 1980s, the AIDS czar in the 1990s, George W. Bush’s trio of national security czars after 9/11, and Obama’s controversial czars for key domestic issues.

Laying aside inflammatory political rhetoric, Vaughn and Villalobos offer a sober, empirical analysis of what precisely constitutes a czar, why Obama and his predecessors used czars, and what role they have played in the modern presidency.

the first in-depth study of this growing bureaucratic phenomenon. This work is essential reading for all students of the American presidency and fills a large gap in the study of the executive branch and public administration . . . Essential."" - Choice Reviews

""Justin Vaughn and José Villalobos have given us the first effort at a comprehensive appraisal of the work these czars have done. This book is an excellent effort to fill a major gap in the scholarship of both the presidency and public policy."" - Congress & the Presidency

""In this well-written and analytically sophisticated book, Justin Vaughn and José Villalobos explain the widely discussed, but little understood, role of administrative czars in the presidency. They document how recent presidents have made both wise and unwise use of policy czars to coordinate major priorities. In drawing lessons from this history, they argue that czars, or something very much like them, are essential tools that presidents must occasionally use to lead the fragmented executive branch. If you want to understand how presidents can get their policies implemented effectively, this book provides a valuable guide."" - James P. Pfiffner, George Mason University

ISBN: 9780472036943

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 400g

248 pages