THE PRESIDENCY AND THE CHALLENGE OF （总统的挑战）.pdf

THE PRESIDENCY AND THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICAL REGIME BUILDING: SKOWRONEK REVISITED By Curtis W. Nichols The University of Texas, Austin Daniel Franklin Georgia State University Synopsis Stephen Skowronek’s study of presidential leadership and recurring patterns of regime development in The Politics Presidents Make (1993) has added a significant depth and richness to the scholarship of both the presidency and American political development. However, this line of analysis remains limited because of its inflexibility in regards to the cumulative evolution of the presidential institution. In this paper we reconceptualize the concept of “political time” one of the central constructs of Skowronek’s work, by adapting the evolution of the presidency to an approach, termed “challenge and response,” introduced by historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1939). In doing so, we better define the dynamics of “regime building” by suggesting that reconstructive presidents have a greater range of challenges and therefore meet them with a greater range of responses than has been previously thought. This allows us to correct for the deficiencies in Skowronek’s work that have led him to suggest that we are at the end of “political time.” 2 In The Politics Presidents Make (1993) Stephen Skowronek contributes significant depth and richness to the study of the presidency by highlighting that fundamental leadership problems for presidents have persisted throughout American history. This opens up the possibility that presidents face recurrent political challenges by encountering obstacles similar to those faced by other pres