The expansion of executive powers amid the war on terrorism has brought the presidency to the center of heated public debate. Now, in The American Presidency, presidential authority Charles O. Jones provides invaluable background to the current controversy, in a compact, reliable guide to the office of the chief executive. This marvelously concise survey is packed with information about the presidency, some of it quite surprising. We learn, for example, that the Founders adopted the word "president" over "governor" and other alternatives because it suggested a light hand, as in one who presides, rather than rules. Indeed, the Constitutional Convention first agreed to a weak chief executive elected by congress for one seven-year term, later calling for independent election and separation of powers. Jones sheds much light on how assertive leaders, such as Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, and FDR enhanced the power of the presidency, and illuminating how such factors as philosophy (Reagan's anti-Communist conservatism), the legacy of previous presidencies (Jimmy Carter following Watergate), relations with Congress, and the impact of outside events have all influenced presidential authority. He also explores the rise of federal power and the dramatic expansion of federal agencies, showing how the president takes a direct hand in this vast bureaucracy, and he examines the political process of selecting presidents, from the days of deadlocked conventions to the rise of the primary after World War II. "In 200 years," he writes, "the presidency had changed from that of a person--Washington followed by Adams, then Jefferson--to a presidential enterprise with a cast of thousands." Jones explains how this remarkable expansion has occurred and where it may lead in the future.

作者

查爾斯•瓊斯　美國威斯康星大學麥迪遜分校霍金斯政治學榮譽退休教授，布魯金斯學會非常駐高級研究員。著有《分權體製中的總統製》《剋林頓與國會：1993－1996》 《通往總統職位之路》等。

序言作者

張韆帆　 美國得剋薩斯大學奧斯汀分校政府學博士。曾任南京大學法學院教 授、博士生導師，《南京大學法律評論》主編。現任北京大學法學院、政府管理學院雙聘教授，博士生導師；中國憲法學會副會長，北京大學憲法與行政法研究中心常務副主任及北大法學院人大與議會研究中心主任。主要研究中外憲政，並在相關領域齣版專著和主編教材近二十部。