The Myth of Presidential Representation

In The Myth of Presidential Representation, B. Dan Wood evaluates the nature of American presidential representation, examining the strongly embedded belief - held by the country's founders, as well as current American political culture and social science theory - that presidents should represent the community at large. Citizens expect presidents to reflect prevailing public sentiment and compromise in the national interest. Social scientists express these same ideas through theoretical models depicting presidential behavior as driven by centrism and issue stances adhering to the median voter. Yet partisanship seems to be a dominant theme of modern American politics. Do American presidents adhere to a centrist model of representation as envisioned by the founders? Or, do presidents typically attempt to lead the public toward their own more partisan positions? If so, how successful are they? What are the consequences of centrist versus partisan presidential representation? The Myth of Presidential Representation addresses these questions both theoretically and empirically.

Author: B. Dan Wood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 06/22/2009
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780521133425

Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2010

About the Author
Wood, B. Dan: - B. Dan Wood holds the Cornerstone Fellowship at Texas A&M University. He is the author of The Politics of Economic Leadership: The Causes and Consequences of Presidential Rhetoric (2007) and coauthor of Bureaucratic Dynamics: The Role of Bureaucracy in a Democracy (1994), as well as numerous scholarly articles. Professor Wood has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Political Science, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Political Analysis, Political Research Quarterly, and American Politics Quarterly and is a frequent instructor at the European Consortium for Political Research summer methods program at the University of Essex.