Awards

• Winner of 2017 Richard E. Neustadt Award, Presidents and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2017
• Winner of 2017 Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize, Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association 2017

Overview

Although congressional investigations have provided some of the most dramatic moments in American political history, they have often been dismissed as mere political theater. But these investigations are far more than grandstanding. Investigating the President shows that congressional investigations are a powerful tool for members of Congress to counter presidential aggrandizement. By shining a light on alleged executive wrongdoing, investigations can exert significant pressure on the president and materially affect policy outcomes. Douglas Kriner and Eric Schickler construct the most comprehensive overview of congressional investigative oversight to date, analyzing nearly thirteen thousand days of hearings, spanning more than a century, from 1898 through 2014. The authors examine the forces driving investigative power over time and across chambers, identify how hearings might influence the president's strategic calculations through the erosion of the president's public approval rating, and uncover the pathways through which investigations have shaped public policy.Put simply, by bringing significant political pressure to bear on the president, investigations often afford Congress a blunt, but effective check on presidential power--without the need to worry about veto threats or other hurdles such as Senate filibusters. In an era of intense partisan polarization and institutional dysfunction, Investigating the President delves into the dynamics of congressional investigations and how Congress leverages this tool to counterbalance presidential power.

Full Product Details

9780691171869

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Reviews

Kriner and Schickler have written an important and timely work that deepens our understanding of the relationship between Congress and the executive branch, and fills a gap in the scholarly literature. This state-of-the-art study demonstrates that Congress's power to investigate executive misconduct is not just a vehicle for political grandstanding but an effective check on presidential power. --Choice

Author Information

Douglas L. Kriner is associate professor of political science at Boston University. Eric Schickler is the Jeffrey and Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

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