Author Description

Neustadt presents a reexamination of his seminal theory of presidential power, and includes extensive material on Ronald Reagan. His understanding of the presidency is based on the belief that all presidential decisions influence the events they aim at and also impact the future possibilities of presidential power. Less interested in the presidency as an institution than as an office constructed by an individual, he focuses mainly on the personal exercise of power. He defines the office as one chiefly characterized by weakness. He believes that this is less the result of personal failure on the part of the President and more the product of a great gap between what is expected of a man and his assured capacity to carry through. ISBN 0-02-922795-X: $22.95.