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Parsing the Politicized Presidency: Centralization and Politicization as Presidential Strategies for Bureaucratic Control
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| | Unformatted Document Text:
P
ARSING THE
P
OLITICIZED
P
RESIDENCY
:
C
ENTRALIZATION AND
P
OLITICIZATION AS
P
RESIDENTIAL
S
TRATEGIES FOR
B
UREAUCRATIC
C
ONTROL
Andrew Rudalevige
Department of Political Science, Dickinson College
Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University
## email not listed ##
David E. Lewis
Department of Politics, Princeton University
## email not listed ##
Paper prepared for presentation at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Washington, DC, September 1-4. Thanks to Terry Moe, Dick Nathan, Bert Rockman, Rick Waterman, and
participants in Princeton’s CSDP seminar for helpful comments. Version 1.0.
ABSTRACT: In his seminal article detailing “The Politicized Presidency,” Terry Moe (1985) identified politicization and centralization as twin tools used by presidents seeking control over bureaucratic processes and outcomes. Both strategies have received extensive scholarly attention, but there has been little systematic analysis – either theoretic or empirical -- of the relationship between the two. Utilizing a framework drawn from transaction cost theory, we posit that centralization and politicization are substitutes (rather than complements, as often assumed), given the managerial costs of each. Using data on presidential policy formulation and on political appointments across the bureaucracy, we find solid quantitative support for this hypothesis, even controlling for other conditions that affect the likelihood of centralization. The upshot is a useful first assessment of the tradeoffs chief executives must make in devising the “administrative presidency.”
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| | Authors: Rudalevige, Andrew. and Lewis, David. |
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P
ARSING THE
P
OLITICIZED
P
RESIDENCY
:
C
ENTRALIZATION AND
P
OLITICIZATION AS
P
RESIDENTIAL
S
TRATEGIES FOR
B
UREAUCRATIC
C
ONTROL
Andrew Rudalevige
Department of Political Science, Dickinson College
Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University
## email not listed ##
David E. Lewis
Department of Politics, Princeton University
## email not listed ##
Paper prepared for presentation at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Washington, DC, September 1-4. Thanks to Terry Moe, Dick Nathan, Bert Rockman, Rick Waterman, and
participants in Princeton’s CSDP seminar for helpful comments. Version 1.0.
ABSTRACT: In his seminal article detailing “The Politicized Presidency,” Terry Moe (1985) identified
politicization and centralization as twin tools used by presidents seeking control over bureaucratic
processes and outcomes. Both strategies have received extensive scholarly attention, but there has been
little systematic analysis – either theoretic or empirical -- of the relationship between the two. Utilizing a
framework drawn from transaction cost theory, we posit that centralization and politicization are
substitutes (rather than complements, as often assumed), given the managerial costs of each. Using data
on presidential policy formulation and on political appointments across the bureaucracy, we find solid
quantitative support for this hypothesis, even controlling for other conditions that affect the likelihood of
centralization. The upshot is a useful first assessment of the tradeoffs chief executives must make in
devising the “administrative presidency.”
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