The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency

As the central feature of the American political landscape, it is only natural that scholars and commentators focus on the presidency. So much is written about the subject, in fact, that it is often difficult to know where we stand in our understanding of it. The Oxford Handbook of the American Presidency will help scholars assess the state of scholarship on the presidency and the directions in which it needs to move. Never before has the academic literature on the American presidency received such an extended treatment. Nearly three dozen chapters critically assess both the major contributions to the literature on the dimension of the presidency and the ways in which the literature has developed. The authors of each chapter seek to identify weaknesses in the existing literature--be they logical flaws, methodological errors, oversights, or some combination therein--and to offer their views about especially productive lines of future inquiry. Equally important, the authors also identify areas of research that are unlikely to bear additional fruit. These chapters offer a distinctive point of view, an argument about the successes and failures of past scholarship, and a set of recommendations about how future work ought to develop. Thus, this volume will help set the agenda for research on the presidency for the next decade.

The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics is an eight-volume set of reference books offering authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of scholarship on American politics. Each volume focuses on a particular aspect of the field. The project is under the General Editorship of George C. Edwards III, and distinguished specialists in their respective fields edit each volume. The handbooks aim not just to report on the discipline, but also to shape it as scholars critically assess the current state of scholarship on a topic and propose directions in which it needs to move. The series is an indispensable reference for anyone working in American politics.

George C. Edwards III is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University and holds the Chair in Presidential Studies. A leading scholar of the presidency, he has written or edited 23 books on American politics and public policy making. He is also editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly and consulting editor of The Oxford Handbook of American Politics series. Professor Edwards has served as president of the Presidency Research Section of the American Political Science Association, which has named its annual dissertation prize in his honor and awarded him its Career Service Award.

William G. Howell is an Professor in American Politics in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He has written widely on separation-of-powers issues and American political institutions, especially the presidency. His recent research examines how domestic political institutions constrain the president's ability to exercise military force abroad. Before coming to the Harris School, Howell taught in the government department at Harvard University and the political science department at the University of Wisconsin. In 2000, he received a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.