{"product_id":"trajectory-of-power-by-william-g-howell-9780691276175","title":"Trajectory of Power","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA penetrating account of how, over many decades, conservative backlash to the administrative state led to the rise of a strongman presidency that threatens American democracy.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTrajectory of Power\u003c\/em\u003e, leading political scientists William Howell and Terry Moe provide a sweeping account of the historical rise of presidential power, arguing that it has now grown to the point where, in the wrong hands, it threatens to subvert American democracy and replace it with a de facto system of strongman rule, whether led by Donald Trump or someone else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book shows that, for much of the twentieth century, Republican and Democratic presidents pursued power in very similar ways and almost always within democratic bounds. However, Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan, in a transformation that has grown increasingly extreme over time, have gone beyond the \"normal\" incentives that have traditionally shaped presidential behaviour—and still shape the behaviour of Democratic presidents—to pursue a presidency of such expansive unilateral power, and with such disregard for basic democratic requirements, that it puts democracy at serious risk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrajectory of Power\u003c\/em\u003e traces this divergence in approach to the backlash of conservatives against the administrative state, and to their epiphany that a war on big government could only be waged through a presidency of extraordinary power. With this vision in mind, Reagan's Justice Department pioneered the Unitary Executive Theory, which justified vast expansions of unilateral presidential power and was further radicalised over the decades as the Republican Party became more ideologically extreme, more populist, more anti-system, and ultimately more supportive of a strongman presidency.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTimely, urgent, and original, \u003cem\u003eTrajectory of Power\u003c\/em\u003e reveals how the presidency has been profoundly transformed during the modern era—and why it now puts our democracy in imminent danger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47464740618476,"sku":"9780691276175","price":74.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780691276175-trajectory-of-power.jpg?v=1775052508","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/trajectory-of-power-by-william-g-howell-9780691276175","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}