James P Pfiffner
Biographic Data
| ID | 701057 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James P Pfiffner |
| GIVEN NAMES | James P |
| FAMILY NAME | Pfiffner |
| SIGNATURE | PFIFFNER J P |
| AFFILIATIONS | George Mason University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6694-3787 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 47 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 112 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1975 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
President Trump and the Shallow State: Disloyalty at the Highest Levels
President Donald Trump often complained about the “deep state” of career civil servants who, he asserted, were determined to undermine his presidency. But it was his own presidential appointees who most visibly resisted his directives. Political appointees are expected to be the most loyal advocates of a president's policy agenda, riding herd on the many bureaucracies of the executive branch. This article analyzes resistance to Trump's policy dir…
Organizing the Biden Presidency
After the disruptive term of Donald Trump, President Biden initiated a restoration of the regular order of the presidency, which had been established by presidents of both parties over the past half‐century, this article will examine the establishment of the Biden presidency, beginning with his transition into office. It will analyze the White House staff and organization as well as Biden's use of his cabinet secretaries and the recruitment of po…
Donald Trump and the Norms of the Presidency
Donald Trump was the first person to come to the presidency with no experience in government or the military. Thus, he did not absorb the values of public service or military discipline and respect for the Constitution. Most behavior that is considered central to the presidency is not spelled out in the Constitution, which lays out the formal authority of the presidency. This article begins with common civility and other customs of the presidency…
Organizing the Presidency: Army, Police, and Politics in Tropical Africa
Examining how the White House works—or doesn't—before and after TrumpDonald Trump has reinvented the presidency, transforming it from a well-oiled if sometimes cumbersome institution into what has often seemed to be a one-man show. But even Trump's unorthodox presidency requires institutional support, from a constantly rotating White House staff and cabinet who have sought to carry out—and sometimes resist—the president's direct orders and comply…
Organizing the Presidency
The Contemporary Presidency: Organizing the Trump Presidency
President Trump differed significantly from other recent presidents in his management of the White House staff, domestic cabinet appointments, and relations with his national security team. This article traces the roots of White House dysfunction, particularly the lack of a strong chief of staff, the absence of a regular policy process, and the factions that fought for control of policy. It then examines President Trump's unusual approach of appo…
Jim Thurber's Contributions to American Politics and Governance
Jim Thurber's Contributions to American Politics and Governance." Congress & the Presidency, 45(1), pp. 14–15
The Contemporary Presidency: Magna Carta and the Contemporary Presidency
Despite arguments by some scholars that Magna Carta has been inaccurately mythologized, this article argues that it continues to be relevant to contemporary governance. After an overview of the historical circumstances of the Great Charter , and a discussion of its major clauses, this article examines expansions of individual rights and limits on government in Anglo‐American jurisprudence that trace their origins to Magna Carta. It argues that th…
Torture As Public Policy: Restoring U. S. Credibility on the World Stage
After September 11, 2001 the Bush Administration decided that the most important intelligence about terrorism would come from the interrogation of captives suspected of terrorism. As a result, many detainees were subject to harsh interrogation techniques that at times amounted to torture. Here, James P. Pfiffner authoritatively examines the policy directives, operational decisions, and leadership actions of the Bush Administration that reversed c…
The Constitutional Legacy of George W. Bush
This article examines the assertions of constitutional power by President George W. Bush and argues that he established significant precedents that have enlarged the range of future presidential discretion. Bush broke new constitutional ground in authorizing coercive interrogations, denying suspected terrorists the privilege of habeas corpus, warrantless surveillance of Americans, and the excessive use of signing statements. Senator Barack Obama …
Torture As Public Policy: Restoring U. S. Credibility on the World Stage
Examining Torture: Empirical Studies of State Repression
The United States' use of torture and harsh interrogation techniques during the "War on Terror" has sparked fervent debate among citizens and scholars surrounding the human rights of war criminals. Do
The Paradox of P resident R eagan's Leadership
Ronald Reagan was a larger‐than‐life individual, a formidable politician, and an important president. But as in all presidents, his character was complex, resulting in a presidency of paradoxes, marked by some great successes and some unfortunate failures. Both Reagan's successes and failures stemmed from his character and style of political leadership. Reagan's broad vision and clear direction made his political ideals appealing. But paradoxical…
Decision Making in the Obama White House
Presidents attract extremely smart, ambitious people to serve in the White House, but the quality of the advice the president receives depends upon how he or she uses the available talent. Chief executives face daunting challenges in evaluating the onslaught of information, judging the perspectives of their subordinates, and ensuring that they receive advice based on presidential perspectives rather than the priorities of their subordinates. Poli…
Federalist No. 70: Is the President Too Powerful
Federalist No. 70 sets the stage for a powerful chief executive through its emphasis on energy in the executive. This essay reviews the challenges of holding this energy accountable in a republican form of government and concludes that recent presidents have stretched their authorities beyond even the most aggressive defense of the concept. Comparing presidents Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush, the author concludes that the founders never inten…
The Contemporary Presidency: Decision Making in the Bush White House
The White House Office is so large and complex that a systematic process of policy evaluation is essential in order to provide the president with a range of options on all important policy decisions. Some of the most important decisions that President George W. Bush made in his first term were taken without the benefit of broad deliberation within the White House or cabinet. This article will take up four cases of policy decisions to illustrate t…
Presidential Signing Statements and Their Implications for Public Administration
For most of U.S. history, presidents have issued signing statements to comment on bills being signed into law. These statements often are hortatory and comment on the merits of the new law. In recent decades, presidents also have used signing statements to indicate portions of laws that they consider unconstitutional. Pointing out such parts of new statutes is not a problem, but indicating that the president may not execute part of the law is pro…
The Contemporary Presidency Constraining Executive Power: George W. Bush and the Constitution
The modern tradition of constraining the power of political executives has deep roots in Anglo‐American governmental traditions. The Magna Carta of 1215, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Common Law, and other documents and traditions of the British Constitution all provided precedents upon which the Framers of the U.S. Constitution drew. From the ratification of the U.S. Constitution to contemporary times, th…
Marching in time: Alliance politics, synchrony and the case for war in Iraq, 2002–2003
This article considers how three countries—the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia—approached the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by examining how the leaders’ decision-making interacted, the commonalities of their policy-making processes, and the approach to policy justification taken in terms of their domestic political environments. In particular, it examines the extent to which their claims as to why invasion was necessary…
The Institutionalist: A Conversation with Hugh Heclo
This interview marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Hugh Heclo’s classic, A Government of Strangers: Executive Politics in Washington. This engaging conversation touches on such wide‐ranging themes as Heclo’s early mentorship by Aaron Wildavsky; his nurturing apprenticeship at the Brookings Institution, leading to the publication of A Government of Strangers; the increasingly intense partisanship and schism within the executive branch…
The First MBA President: George W. Bush as Public Administrator
President Bush was praised early in his first term as a tough‐minded decision maker who knows how to get things done. This essay argues that President Bush possesses formidable political skills that have helped him achieve many of his policy goals, focusing on his most important national security policies: the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism and the treatment of detainees, the use of intelligence leading up to the war, and the reorganization of…
Presidential Decision Making: Rationality, Advisory Systems, and Personality
The authors in this special issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly draw on a rich heritage of decision‐making analysis in the scholarly literature, much of it in the discipline of political science. Over the past several decades, scholars have approached the understanding of presidential decision making from a range of perspectives. The articles in this issue are rich in theory, strong in empirical evidence, and often prescriptive, explicitly or…
Did President Bush Mislead the Country in His Arguments for War with Iraq
President Bush has been accused by some in the popular press of lying in his arguments for taking the United States to war with Iraq in 2003. This article examines several sets of statements by President Bush and his administration: first, about the implication that there was a link between Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11; second, about Iraq's nuclear weapons capacity; and third, about Saddam Hussein's chemical and bio…
Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process
Journal Article Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process Get access Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process by William W. Newmann. Pittsburgh, PA, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003. 288 pp. $36.95. James P. Pfiffner James P. Pfiffner George Mason University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 119, Issue 3, Fall 2004, Pages …
Elliot L. Richardson: Exemplar of Integrity and Public Service
This article examines the career and ideas of Elliot Richardson as an exemplar of integrity and public service. The analysis proceeds from an overview of Richardson’s career to an examination of his acts as a political appointee and his stance toward career civil servants. It then discusses his confrontation with President Nixon over the Watergate special prosecutor, which ended in his resignation. It concludes by analyzing the ideas about govern…
The Contemporary Presidency: Organizing the Trump Presidency
President Trump differed significantly from other recent presidents in his management of the White House staff, domestic cabinet appointments, and relations with his national security team. This article traces the roots of White House dysfunction, particularly the lack of a strong chief of staff, the absence of a regular policy process, and the factions that fought for control of policy. It then examines President Trump's unusual approach of appo…
The Contemporary Presidency: Decision Making in the Bush White House
The White House Office is so large and complex that a systematic process of policy evaluation is essential in order to provide the president with a range of options on all important policy decisions. Some of the most important decisions that President George W. Bush made in his first term were taken without the benefit of broad deliberation within the White House or cabinet. This article will take up four cases of policy decisions to illustrate t…
The White House Office of Presidential Personnel
One of the greatest challenges of a new presidential administration is recruiting and bringing on board the political appointees who will help the new president lead the executive branch. The people who carry out this task for the president work in the Office of Presidential Personnel (OPP). This article presents an overview of the OPP and how it functions during the transition and early months of a new administration. It first sets out the scope…
Donald Trump and the Norms of the Presidency
Donald Trump was the first person to come to the presidency with no experience in government or the military. Thus, he did not absorb the values of public service or military discipline and respect for the Constitution. Most behavior that is considered central to the presidency is not spelled out in the Constitution, which lays out the formal authority of the presidency. This article begins with common civility and other customs of the presidency…
Did President Bush Mislead the Country in His Arguments for War with Iraq
President Bush has been accused by some in the popular press of lying in his arguments for taking the United States to war with Iraq in 2003. This article examines several sets of statements by President Bush and his administration: first, about the implication that there was a link between Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11; second, about Iraq's nuclear weapons capacity; and third, about Saddam Hussein's chemical and bio…
Marching in time: Alliance politics, synchrony and the case for war in Iraq, 2002–2003
This article considers how three countries—the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia—approached the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by examining how the leaders’ decision-making interacted, the commonalities of their policy-making processes, and the approach to policy justification taken in terms of their domestic political environments. In particular, it examines the extent to which their claims as to why invasion was necessary…
Decision Making in the Obama White House
Presidents attract extremely smart, ambitious people to serve in the White House, but the quality of the advice the president receives depends upon how he or she uses the available talent. Chief executives face daunting challenges in evaluating the onslaught of information, judging the perspectives of their subordinates, and ensuring that they receive advice based on presidential perspectives rather than the priorities of their subordinates. Poli…
Presidential Signing Statements and Their Implications for Public Administration
For most of U.S. history, presidents have issued signing statements to comment on bills being signed into law. These statements often are hortatory and comment on the merits of the new law. In recent decades, presidents also have used signing statements to indicate portions of laws that they consider unconstitutional. Pointing out such parts of new statutes is not a problem, but indicating that the president may not execute part of the law is pro…
President Trump and the Shallow State: Disloyalty at the Highest Levels
President Donald Trump often complained about the “deep state” of career civil servants who, he asserted, were determined to undermine his presidency. But it was his own presidential appointees who most visibly resisted his directives. Political appointees are expected to be the most loyal advocates of a president's policy agenda, riding herd on the many bureaucracies of the executive branch. This article analyzes resistance to Trump's policy dir…
Organizing the Biden Presidency
After the disruptive term of Donald Trump, President Biden initiated a restoration of the regular order of the presidency, which had been established by presidents of both parties over the past half‐century, this article will examine the establishment of the Biden presidency, beginning with his transition into office. It will analyze the White House staff and organization as well as Biden's use of his cabinet secretaries and the recruitment of po…
The Contemporary Presidency: Meeting the Freight Train Head On: Planning for the Transition to Power
In the seventy‐four days between the November 7 election and the inauguration on January 20, the next president will need to form his White House team, designate fourteen cabinet secretaries, deliver his inaugural address, present his agenda to the nation, and send to Congress a budget of around $1.8 trillion. He can only effectively do so if he has planned his transition from an early point. In interviews for the White House Interview Program, t…
The Contemporary Presidency: Presidential Lies
In a republic based on the consent of the governed, citizens need accurate information to make informed decisions about elections and public policy. The purpose of this article is to present some examples of lies in the modern presidency and argue that there is a range of lies, from those that are justifiable to those that are unacceptable. The presidential lies under consideration will be broken into three broad categories: justifiable lies, lie…
Insiders on the outside and Outsiders on the inside: Competing Approaches to Presidential Management
The President's Legislative Agenda
The president has come to be known as our chief legislator within the past fifty years, with Franklin Roosevelt and his successors taking a much more active role in the legislative process than nineteenth-century presidents took. Despite elaborate efforts and a fully developed congressional liaison capacity in the White House, however, only three presidents have been markedly successful with Congress: Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronal…
Presidential Decision Making: Rationality, Advisory Systems, and Personality
The authors in this special issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly draw on a rich heritage of decision‐making analysis in the scholarly literature, much of it in the discipline of political science. Over the past several decades, scholars have approached the understanding of presidential decision making from a range of perspectives. The articles in this issue are rich in theory, strong in empirical evidence, and often prescriptive, explicitly or…
The Contemporary Presidency Constraining Executive Power: George W. Bush and the Constitution
The modern tradition of constraining the power of political executives has deep roots in Anglo‐American governmental traditions. The Magna Carta of 1215, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Common Law, and other documents and traditions of the British Constitution all provided precedents upon which the Framers of the U.S. Constitution drew. From the ratification of the U.S. Constitution to contemporary times, th…
Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process
Journal Article Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process Get access Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process by William W. Newmann. Pittsburgh, PA, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003. 288 pp. $36.95. James P. Pfiffner James P. Pfiffner George Mason University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 119, Issue 3, Fall 2004, Pages …
Elliot L. Richardson: Exemplar of Integrity and Public Service
This article examines the career and ideas of Elliot Richardson as an exemplar of integrity and public service. The analysis proceeds from an overview of Richardson’s career to an examination of his acts as a political appointee and his stance toward career civil servants. It then discusses his confrontation with President Nixon over the Watergate special prosecutor, which ended in his resignation. It concludes by analyzing the ideas about govern…
The Budgeting and Evaluation of Federal Recreation Programs
Budgeting: A Comparative Theory of Budgetary Processes. Aaron Wildavsky
"Budgeting and the "People's Reform
Economics
Budgetary Crisis and Congressional Spending
Dennis S. Ippolito, Congressional Spending.Lance T. LeLoup, The Fiscal Congress.Rudolph G. Penner, editor, The Congressional Budget Process After Five Years.Allen Schick, Congress and Money
Political Public Administration
Mandate for Leadership II: Continuing the Conservative Revolution (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation, 1984) was published as a handbook of policy recommendations for the second term of the Reagan administration. It consists of a series of essays on public policy issues with specific recommendations for each major agency of the United States government. Part I deals with domestic agencies; Part II with defense and foreign affairs agencies;…
Reply to Sanera
The Federal Budget: Policy, Process, and Politics
Political Appointees and Career Executives: The Democracy-Bureaucracy Nexus in the Third Century
The balance between presidential appointees and career executives in governing the United States is a fundamental question of who shall rule.' But it is also a question of governmental and organizational mechanics. The democratic principle that the President along with political appointees ought to direct policy in the executive branch is not in question, but judgments about the most effective way to organize that political control have been chan…
The President's Legislative Agenda
The president has come to be known as our chief legislator within the past fifty years, with Franklin Roosevelt and his successors taking a much more active role in the legislative process than nineteenth-century presidents took. Despite elaborate efforts and a fully developed congressional liaison capacity in the White House, however, only three presidents have been markedly successful with Congress: Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronal…
Managing the Presidency
Insiders on the outside and Outsiders on the inside: Competing Approaches to Presidential Management
Establishing the Bush Presidency
George Bush began his presidency with the politics of consolidation. The policy directions of the Reagan Administration were reinforced, but not extended, and the major trends in the conduct of the Presidency were moderated, but not reversed. This article examines how George Bush accomplished three of the major tasks of a new President: putting his own stamp on the Presidency, grasping control of the executive branch, and establishing a modus viv…
The President as Manager
Governing the White House: From Hoover Through LBJ, by Charles E. Walcott and Karen M. Hult
The Presidency and the Persian Gulf War
Introduction by James P. Pfiffner The Presidency and War-Making Presidential Policy-Making and the Gulf War by James P. Pfiffner The Conflict Between Congress and the President Over War by Robert J. Spitzer The Power of Commander in Chief by Louis Fisher George Bush Goes to War Figuring Out Saddam Hussein by Betty Glad The Case FOR the War by Raymond A. Moore The Case AGAINST the War by Marcia Lynn Whicker The Home Front Vietnam and the Gulf War:…
The Contemporary Presidency: Presidential Lies
In a republic based on the consent of the governed, citizens need accurate information to make informed decisions about elections and public policy. The purpose of this article is to present some examples of lies in the modern presidency and argue that there is a range of lies, from those that are justifiable to those that are unacceptable. The presidential lies under consideration will be broken into three broad categories: justifiable lies, lie…
The Contemporary Presidency: Meeting the Freight Train Head On: Planning for the Transition to Power
The Contemporary Presidency: Meeting the Freight Train Head On: Planning for the Transition to Power
In the seventy‐four days between the November 7 election and the inauguration on January 20, the next president will need to form his White House team, designate fourteen cabinet secretaries, deliver his inaugural address, present his agenda to the nation, and send to Congress a budget of around $1.8 trillion. He can only effectively do so if he has planned his transition from an early point. In interviews for the White House Interview Program, t…
The Paradox of Governmental Power
The White House Office of Presidential Personnel
One of the greatest challenges of a new presidential administration is recruiting and bringing on board the political appointees who will help the new president lead the executive branch. The people who carry out this task for the president work in the Office of Presidential Personnel (OPP). This article presents an overview of the OPP and how it functions during the transition and early months of a new administration. It first sets out the scope…
Elliot L. Richardson: Exemplar of Integrity and Public Service
This article examines the career and ideas of Elliot Richardson as an exemplar of integrity and public service. The analysis proceeds from an overview of Richardson’s career to an examination of his acts as a political appointee and his stance toward career civil servants. It then discusses his confrontation with President Nixon over the Watergate special prosecutor, which ended in his resignation. It concludes by analyzing the ideas about govern…
Judging Presidential Character
This article takes the character issue seriously by addressing how presidents ought to be judged with respect to truthfulness, sexual probity, and promise-keeping. It argues that it is beneficial rather than destructive to examine the faults of political leaders along with their virtues. The analysis concludes that democratic politics makes it unlikely that our leaders will often be moral paragons, and that while we ought not to condone wrongdoin…
Did President Bush Mislead the Country in His Arguments for War with Iraq
President Bush has been accused by some in the popular press of lying in his arguments for taking the United States to war with Iraq in 2003. This article examines several sets of statements by President Bush and his administration: first, about the implication that there was a link between Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11; second, about Iraq's nuclear weapons capacity; and third, about Saddam Hussein's chemical and bio…
Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process
Journal Article Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process Get access Managing National Security Policy: The President and the Process by William W. Newmann. Pittsburgh, PA, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003. 288 pp. $36.95. James P. Pfiffner James P. Pfiffner George Mason University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 119, Issue 3, Fall 2004, Pages …
Political science (43 works) · Law (38 works) · Law (35 works) · Politics (34 works) · Public Administration (27 works) · Public Administration (27 works) · Presidency (17 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (16 works) · Economics (13 works) · Political and Economic history of UK and US (12 works)