This paper reports the results of new research funded by the Leverhulme Foundation, which employs experimental design to assess two hypotheses which are derived from the existing literature on popular alienation from politics and the potential for deliberative democracy to offer a solution to...

Extending the veto player theory to semi-presidential regimes, this paper illustrates the dynamics of policy making in Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou presidency. Semi-presidentialism is difficult to analyze in that the institutional veto players are usually vaguely defined, giving agenda-setters...

Although formal theories have posited commitment and coordination models characterizing the importance of veto threats, the empirical analysis of threat behavior and its impact on policy outcomes, and lawmaking more generally, remains a critical question. This analysis tests Krehbiel's key...

Political scientists have tended to see the powerful presidency of the 20th and the 21st centuries as being the enemy of strong political parties. But over the past quarter century, presidents have been following a more partisan path. They have been relying on their parties more for support,...

Is there a presidential rhetoric of hard times? We are interested in presidents' rhetorical reactions during economic contractions. Do they rhetorically react at all? If they choose to speak, what do they seek to convey to the public about the economy? We analyze the major discretionary speeches...

Abstract will be provided by author. This paper presents some of the findings from a larger project where I examine the reasons that democratic countries abandon involvement in peripheral wars. Here, I present the findings from my case study on the U.S.' involvement in the Vietnam War from...

Much research questions the president's ability to lead public opinion. Yet most of this research does not directly assess how news coverage might influence presidential leadership of public opinion. If presidents can affect the tone of news coverage, then presidents may be able to indirectly...

Debate exists over whether presidents are sincere or strategic in submitting their legislative proposals to Congress and the implications of strategic versus sincere behavior on presidential success with Congress. This paper tests for strategic behavior in presidential proposing to Congress and...

We develop a formal model of exchange and governance in multiparty presidential regimes that simultaneously considers political transfers, monetary transfers, and policy concessions. The modeling results suggest that executives will use political transfers like cabinet positions in exchange for...

After JFK's assassination in 1963, the Apollo program was virtually guaranteed a run at achieving success although its value was not as high as later mythology suggests. Lyndon Johnson cut the program's budget and vetoed a continuation in the form of the Post Apollo Applications Program, a...