Extolling Executive Action? An Examination of the Rhetoric of Unilateralism

Donna Hoffman, Alison Howard

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentationpeer-review

    Abstract

    Recent scholarship has examined both the quantitative and qualitative differences in presidents’ use of executive actions. As we have seen differences in how presidents have deployed this tool, there has been less scholarship about how presidents have talked about the executive actions they have taken. We seek to examine the presidential rhetoric of executive actions. There is evidence that presidential unilateral actions have largely become accepted by other government institutions. With this acceptance, they have become normalized with the public. Thus, we hypothesize we will see an increase in presidents advertising to the public major actions they have taken through executive means as they may see benefits to standing up, in particular, to legislative intransigence. They may also discern an electoral or legacy related advantage by painting actions as decisive. Have recent presidents become more active in their use of rhetoric extolling unilateral executive action? To examine this question, we will examine major speeches of presidents Clinton to Obama and identify both where they signal potential actions, as well as their credit claiming for executive actions.
    Original languageAmerican English
    StateUnpublished - 2017
    EventAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting - San Francisco, United States
    Duration: Aug 30 2017Sep 3 2017

    Conference

    ConferenceAmerican Political Science Association's Annual Meeting
    Abbreviated titleAPSA
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CitySan Francisco
    Period8/30/179/3/17

    Keywords

    • executive action
    • presidential rhetoric

    Disciplines

    • American Politics

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