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Considering the Cabinet: Executive Authority and American Political Development
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Abstract:
This paper lays out a framework to study the cabinet from a different perspective, inspired by the growing scholarship in the field of American Political Development. While integrating basic features of historical background, it concentrates on identifying and exploring the patterns and conditions that can explain, throughout history, important dynamics of the cabinet’s makeup, role, and tenure. It show that the composition, functions, and performance of the cabinets in any given presidential administration are caused by the patterned interplay of surrounding political institutions and by their competition for political authority. My argument rests on what I see as the essential institutional position of the cabinet: it is frequently the nexus where the prerogatives and purposes of the president in power and those of his party meet and often collide. Every president has personal as well as political incentives to control the executive branch and shape its operations. A party in power shares the same objective: the cabinet, like other sites of political power, needs to be filled by individuals who further the interests of the party as a whole. The cabinet as such captures to a large extent the existing balance of power between the institution of the party and that of the presidency. Schematically, the cabinet will be shown to be shaped by the intersection of two “paths.” The first dimension will capture the nature of the relationship of the president to his party, the degree of his autonomy or indebtedness. It also reflects the type and degree of factionalism in the president’s party, both when the president is nominated and during his incumbency. It gauges the authority of the president vis a vis his party and the scope of the constraints the latter is able to exercise on him. The second dimension integrates the changing features of the US two-party system itself. It captures the parties’ structure of authority and organization and distinguishes the features most relevant to the understanding of the cabinet. Although secular trends are observable along both dimensions, neither proceeds in a straight path, and it is at the moments of interruption, backtracking, and collision that the importance of the cabinet as a political institution is most clearly evident. The purpose of this paper is to lay out this framework, to support its relevance, and to first explore its analytical potential. Specifically, it examines quantitative evidence drawn from an original biographical dataset of all cabinet members, more than 575, from 1789 to the recent Bush reshuffling. It comprises biographical data, appointment, tenure, circumstances of departure, the career they had before and after their tenure, the existence of conflict with the president or with congress, etc. The theoretical focus on the cabinet as an institution set among other institutions, can highlight recurring patterns of process and authority (moving “across time”), rather than merely lining up political episodes chronologically (moving “through” time). It provides a tableau rich in parallels and contrasts and in turn opens a window on the political development of the American executive branch, at a level of explanation and nuance not otherwise available.
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Association: Name: American Political Science Association URL: http://www.apsanet.org
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p40206_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Janssen, Marc. "Considering the Cabinet: Executive Authority and American Political Development" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC, Sep 01, 2005 Online <APPLICATION/PDF>. 2008-08-16 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p40206_index.html>

Janssen, M. (2005, Sep) "Considering the Cabinet: Executive Authority and American Political Development" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC Online <APPLICATION/PDF> Retrieved 2008-08-16 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p40206_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: This paper lays out a framework to study the cabinet from a different perspective, inspired by the growing scholarship in the field of American Political Development. While integrating basic features of historical background, it concentrates on identifying and exploring the patterns and conditions that can explain, throughout history, important dynamics of the cabinet’s makeup, role, and tenure. It show that the composition, functions, and performance of the cabinets in any given presidential administration are caused by the patterned interplay of surrounding political institutions and by their competition for political authority. My argument rests on what I see as the essential institutional position of the cabinet: it is frequently the nexus where the prerogatives and purposes of the president in power and those of his party meet and often collide. Every president has personal as well as political incentives to control the executive branch and shape its operations. A party in power shares the same objective: the cabinet, like other sites of political power, needs to be filled by individuals who further the interests of the party as a whole. The cabinet as such captures to a large extent the existing balance of power between the institution of the party and that of the presidency. Schematically, the cabinet will be shown to be shaped by the intersection of two “paths.” The first dimension will capture the nature of the relationship of the president to his party, the degree of his autonomy or indebtedness. It also reflects the type and degree of factionalism in the president’s party, both when the president is nominated and during his incumbency. It gauges the authority of the president vis a vis his party and the scope of the constraints the latter is able to exercise on him. The second dimension integrates the changing features of the US two-party system itself. It captures the parties’ structure of authority and organization and distinguishes the features most relevant to the understanding of the cabinet. Although secular trends are observable along both dimensions, neither proceeds in a straight path, and it is at the moments of interruption, backtracking, and collision that the importance of the cabinet as a political institution is most clearly evident. The purpose of this paper is to lay out this framework, to support its relevance, and to first explore its analytical potential. Specifically, it examines quantitative evidence drawn from an original biographical dataset of all cabinet members, more than 575, from 1789 to the recent Bush reshuffling. It comprises biographical data, appointment, tenure, circumstances of departure, the career they had before and after their tenure, the existence of conflict with the president or with congress, etc. The theoretical focus on the cabinet as an institution set among other institutions, can highlight recurring patterns of process and authority (moving “across time”), rather than merely lining up political episodes chronologically (moving “through” time). It provides a tableau rich in parallels and contrasts and in turn opens a window on the political development of the American executive branch, at a level of explanation and nuance not otherwise available.

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