The Power of American Governors
Winning on Budgets and Losing on Policy

Governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but what they're bargaining over shapes their strategy and effectiveness.

Thad Kousser (Author), Justin H. Phillips (Author)

9781107022249, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 September 2012

296 pages, 17 b/w illus. 1 map
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.53 kg

'This innovative and rigorous examination of gubernatorial leadership ought to be required reading for anyone involved with or interested in the politics of the American states.' Alan Rosenthal, Rutgers University

With limited authority over state lawmaking, but ultimate responsibility for the performance of government, how effective are governors in moving their programs through the legislature? This book advances a new theory about what makes chief executives most successful and explores this theory through original data. Thad Kousser and Justin H. Phillips argue that negotiations over the budget, on the one hand, and policy bills on the other are driven by fundamentally different dynamics. They capture these dynamics in models informed by interviews with gubernatorial advisors, cabinet members, press secretaries and governors themselves. Through a series of novel empirical analyses and rich case studies, the authors demonstrate that governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but that what they're bargaining over – the budget or policy – shapes both how they play the game and how often they can win it.

1. One problem shared by 50 state governors
2. The roots of executive power
3. What do governors propose?
4. Gubernatorial success
5. Do governors set the size of government?
6. The power and perils of popularity
7. The item veto: a negative or positive power?
8. Legislative professionalism and gubernatorial power
9. Governors and the comparative study of chief executives.

Subject Areas: Regional government policies [JPRB], Regional government [JPR], Public administration [JPP], Political science & theory [JPA]