Checks in the Balance: Legislative Capacity and the Dynamics of Executive Power

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How access to resources and policymaking powers determines the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches

The specter of unbridled executive power looms large in the American political imagination. Are checks and balances enough to constrain ambitious executives Checks in the Balance presents a new theory of separation of powers that brings legislative capacity to the fore, explaining why Congress and state legislatures must possess both the opportunities and the means to constrain presidents and governorsand why, without these tools, executive power will prevail.

Alexander Bolton and Sharece Thrower reveal how legislative capacitywhich they conceive of as the combination of a legislatures resources and policymaking powersis the key to preventing the accumulation of power in the hands of an encroaching executive. They show how low-capacity legislatures face difficulties checking the executive through mechanisms such as discretion and oversight, and how presidents and governors unilaterally bypass such legislative adversaries to impose their will. When legislative capacity is high, however, the legislative branch can effectively stifle executives. Bolton and Thrower draw on a wealth of historical evidence on congressional capacity, oversight, discretion, and presidential unilateralism. They also examine thousands of gubernatorial executive orders, demonstrating how varying capacity in the states affects governors power.

Checks in the Balance affirms the centrality of legislatures in tempering executive powerand sheds vital new light on how and why they fail.

Reviews

"Winner of the Alan Rosenthal Prize, Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association"
"The conversation about separation of powers and the legislative branchs ability to check the executive continues to be one not just one for practitioners and academics but also for American society, and that conversation is one which Checks in the Balance effectively joins and enriches."---Jonathan Lewallen, Perspectives on Politics
"An exceptional resource for those seeking to gain a deeper understanding of how legislative capacity affects the actions of the executive."---Michelle Belco, Congress & the Presidency

Author Bio

Alexander Bolton is assistant professor of political science at Emory University. Website alexanderbolton.com Twitter @alexbolton Sharece Thrower is associate professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. Website sharecethrower.com Twitter @ShareceThrower