Description: This collection of essays, edited by Joel D. Aberbach and Mark A. Peterson and written by leading scholars, examines the evolution of the presidency and the executive branch as related to civic participation and democracy itself. It provides an analysis of the president's role in developing foreign and domestic policy and how they influence the policy process and other policy makers. The Executive Branch provides a historical assessment of the role of the person of the president, the favorable and problematic attributes that past presidents have brought to the challenge of leadership, and the measure of overall success captured in notions of presidential failure or greatness.
