Executive order: Bureaucratic management and the limits of presidential power. By Andrew Rudalevige, Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2021. pp. 303. £80.00 (hbk).ISBN: 9780691194356
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| Author | Paige L. Moore |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12896 |
BOOK REVIEW
Executive order: Bureaucratic management and the limits of presidential
power
By Andrew Rudalevige, Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2021. pp. 303. £80.00 (hbk).
ISBN: 9780691194356
Paige L. Moore
NC State University, School of Public and International Affairs, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Email: plmoore2@ncsu.edu
Rudalevige focuses on the complex formulation process behind the creation of EO (Executive Orders), detailing
processes, hidden actors, and fates of over 500 EO's. The author describes how research on EO's often begins after
issuance and is largely assumed to be the product of unilateral decision-making. Rudalevige's premise is that, in real-
ity, EO's are the result of collective action issues and managerial costs, and a large part of presidential responsibility
involves managing the executive branch to produce EO's. The author discusses how Woodrow Wilson envisioned a
clear distinction between politicians and administrators in order to avoid selfish political interests; the two groups
are not distinct in the ways that Wilson had envisioned.
To successfully manage the executive branch, presidents must engage with and learn from experts and staff that
they rely upon.Extensively and “painstakingly”researched(p. 20), the text servesas an example to future presidents by
building upon the expertise of political scholars whose life's work has been studying the successes andfailures of the
ExecutiveOffice of the President (EOP).The purpose of the book is notto examine what happens afteran EO has been
issued, but rather to explore influence and transaction costs imposed by actors, agencies, and the intersection of the
two beforeEO's are issued to discover how theseinteractions eitheradvance or impede presidentialagendas.
The book begins with a discussion about the Executive Order No 13769 (2017) or the “Muslim Ban.”Though it is
unclear if Rudalevige finds Trump's presidency to be an example of failed management of the executive branch or a fasci-
nating case study, the author examines how the Muslim Ban resulted in protests from the public and confusion among
EOP staff and across agencies regarding implementation and interpretation of the executive order. Rudalevige uses
Trump's failure to include government agencies when drafting the EO, to highlight the significance of input from staff and
agencies who may “resist or assist”order development and the struggle of presidents to decide to “make or buy”EO's.
The author explores the resist or assist concept through a discussion of the transaction costs which occur in the
executive branch and the cost to the president. Rudalevige describes that previous scholars and presidents alike have
described the division within the White House. Though many studies focus on the president's relationship with the
bureaucracy from a top-down perspective, EO development is primarily bottom-up and is the product of the full
bureaucratic process and interagency negotiations. Rudalevige spends a large amount of time dedicated to the influ-
ence that individuals and agency heads have over orders and their negotiating power relating directly to power over
orders. This struggle between agency heads leads to the classic make or buy question of whether tominimize trans-
action costs by utilizing EOP staff, relying on an agency with its own agenda, or using a combined approach.
Chapters three and four delve into the role of central clearance in protecting the president against influence from
the executive branch and agencies as well as provide a record of the EO development process. Rudalevige explains how
Received: 16 September 2022 Revised: 23 October 2022 Accepted: 26 October 2022
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12896
Public Admin. 2023;101:1201–1202. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1201
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