Unsustainable Presidency

The Unsustainable Presidency develops a structural theory of the office by challenging and redefining the twin imperatives upon which the modern chief executive was constructed and by applying the theory to the three most recent presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

"The Unsustainable Presidency is more than a breath of fresh air, it is hurricane of high velocity scholarship that will loosen the foundations of orthodox policy analysis. Grover and Peschek document and analyze the most important and virtually neglected pattern in recent presidential politics: the remarkable continuity of policy during the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. In doing so they focus our attention on the 'deep structure' of policy formation, located in the relationships between government and business. The vivid portrait that emerges clarifies the structural constraints that assure that, if normal politics prevail, the application of presidential power will relentlessly conform to the interests and demands of the corporate class." - Michael Schwartz, Professor, SUNY Stony Brook, USA "Maybe it's time to stop kidding ourselves, argue Grover and Peschek in their bracing new study: the endless arguments about strong versus weak presidents miss the broader structural context, the political economy imperatives of modern society and capitalism that animate the entire system the president no less than other political actors. This provocative new work raises necessary questions at a time when solutions seem ever further from our (or presidents') grasp." - Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor, SUNY Cortland, USA and author, Saving the Constitution from Lawyers (2008) "The Unsustainable Presidency stands out from other books on the institution through its 'deep structure' approach to political economy and national security. Grover and Peschek provide a powerful critique of the three most recent presidents that is sure to provoke animated discussion in the classroom." - Bruce Miroff, State University of New York, Albany, USA

William F. Grover is Professor of Political Science at Saint Michael's College in Vermont, USA. He is the author of The President as Prisoner: A Structural Critique of the Carter and Reagan Years and co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics. He is a former American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.Joseph G. Peschek is Professor of Political Science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He is the author of Policy-Planning Organizations: Elite Agendas and America's Rightward Turn and co-editor of Voices of Dissent: Critical Readings in American Politics. He is a former Editor of the journal, New Political Science.  In 2015, he received the Agnes Hulburd Conger Prize for his work in The Unsustainable Presidency.