SAGE Journal Articles

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Journal Article 7.1 Ostrander, I., & Rider, T. J. (2018). Presidents Abroad: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy. Political Research Quarterly.

Abstract: A president’s most precious commodity is time, and nowhere is this scarcity more apparent than with respect to international travel. Personal presidential involvement in diplomatic relations has proven to yield significant benefits, and yet traveling to engage in face-to-face diplomacy is often prohibitively expensive for American executives in time and attention. Given such restrictions, when and where do presidents choose to travel? We use a data set of more than 750 presidential trips spanning more than one hundred countries and a century of history to investigate the domestic and international factors influencing when, where, and for what reason presidents are likely to travel abroad. We provide a detailed examination of presidential travel over time and find that domestic political contexts influence presidential propensities to travel consistent with expectations based on allocating time and attention as limited resources.

Journal Article 7.2: Teten, R. L. (2007). “We the people” The “modern” rhetorical popular address of the presidents during the founding period. Political Research Quarterly, 60(4), 669–682.

Abstract: This article examines the usage of popular address rhetoric within all the State of the Union Addresses to determine whether presidents have consistently used this rhetorical tool, or whether the introduction of going public is indeed a “modern” development that was little used in the rhetorical past of the presidency. By looking at instances in which the president identifies himself with the people, Congress, or as president, the author finds that many formerly “traditional” presidents exhibit “modern” tendencies, which suggests inconsistencies with the “traditional/modern” divide that is a commonly utilized paradigm in presidential study.

Journal Article 7.3: Schorpp, S., & Finocchiaro, C. J. (2017). Congress and the President in Times of War. American Politics Research45(5), 840–865.

Abstract: The increasingly common involvement of the United States in military conflict resonates throughout American political institutions and affects the balance of power in important ways. We examine one particular aspect of executive augmentation of power in times of war—legislative deference—and move beyond a binary approach to the effect of war. Instead, we contend that executive advantage depends on the salience and severity of the conflict. Matters of war often drive upward the prevalence of security concerns in public discourse. Although this can leave the president to compete with Congress on a much more friendly playing field, perceptions of the war’s development can turn the tide. We empirically test our hypotheses with data spanning a 50-year period and find that the salience and severity of war matter, though not equally for both chambers of Congress. The findings hold implications for how we understand the institutional balance of power within and across conflicts, which represents a major aspect of American constitutional design and function.

Journal Article 7.4: Boys, J. D. (2018). The Trump Supremacy? A Year of an Unorthodox American President. Political Insight9(1), 34–36.