Powersharing: White House-Cabinet Relations in the Modern Presidency

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SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1996 - Political Science - 380 pages
The complex relationship between the White House staff and the presidential cabinet has changed dramatically in the last 25 years. During that time, the White House has emerged as the center of power in the domestic policy process, leaving the departments with a diminishing role in initiating major policy proposals. This book focuses on powersharing between the White House and the cabinet in the policy process and examines how and why the White House has become the dominant player, relegating the departments to implementation, rather than design, of key initiatives.

Powersharing begins with an overview of the role of the modern cabinet and a discussion of the cabinet's emergence in a policy role, and then in a chapter-by-chapter analysis of presidential administrations from Nixon through Clinton chronicles the shifting balance of power from the departments to the White House in both the design and management of the nation's major domestic programs. The book concludes with an assessment of the prospects for effective powersharing between the cabinet and the White House staff.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
The Cabinet Emerges in a Policy Role
6
The Nixon Years
39
The Ford Years
67
The Carter Years
100
The Regan years
128
The Bush Years
168
The Clinton Years
198
2 The Ford Cabinet and Staff
244
3 The Carter Cabinet and Staff
251
4 The Reagan Cabinet and Staff
261
5 The Bush Cabinet and Staff
289
6 The Clinton Cabinet and Staff
304
Notes
307
Bibliography
337
Index
357

Powersharing Can it Work?
228
Appendices
235

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About the author (1996)

Shirley Anne Warshaw is Associate Professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College. Among her other publications are two edited volumes, Reexamining the Eisenhower Presidency and The Eisenhower Legacy.

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