Presidential Federalism: The Enduring Role of Presidents in National-State Relations. A Summary

• In Event: The US Presidency and Executive Power II

Abstract

From Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal precipitating a radical shift in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federalism, to Richard Nixon’s New Federalism and Ronald Reagan’s push for devolution, presidents and presidential policies have reframed federal and state relations over time. In Directing the Whirlwind (2020; 2023), we addressed federalism as both a tool of and a constraint on presidents. In this work, we reframe the traditional approach to and periodization of federalism through the lens of presidential politics. We explore how modern presidents, through their priorities and presidential rhetoric, have shaped our view of intergovernmental relations or shifted our understanding of federalism. Standard treatments of federalism focus on judicial, legal interpretation of competing jurisdictional authority, creating periods of changeable federal-to-state authority within which political actors, including presidents, must operate. The periodization in the literature only loosely corresponds to specific presidential administrations and shifts in presidential policy pertaining to the exercise of federal power. Yet, presidents also play an important role shaping federalism–setting the policy agenda and the preferred venue (federal or state) in which policy issues are fought.
By shifting the focus more sharply to presidential influence on the practice of federalism, this work contributes to gaps in the intergovernmental relations and intergovernmental management perspectives of contemporary federalism that overlook or underplay executive influence in the changing understanding of federal and state relationships and the realities for policy actors operating within the policy space of different administrations. This proposed paper summarizes our new book project as it nears completion.

Authors

• Jim Twombly, Elmira College

• Lisa K. Parshall, Daemen College