Book Review: Rethinking the administrative presidency: Trust, intellectual capital, and appointee-careerist relations in the George W. Bush administration

• Author: Steven Putansu
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X20957060
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2021, Vol. 41(3) 616 –620

© The Author(s) 2020

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Book Review

Book Review

Resh, W. G. (2015). Rethinking the administrative presidency: Trust, intellectual capital, and

appointee-careerist relations in the George W. Bush administration. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press.

208 pp. $44.95 paperback

ISBN: 9781421418490

Reviewed by: Steven Putansu , US Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734371X20957060

The transition of federal power from one presidential administration to the next can

represent a dramatic change in how goals are set and how programs are implemented

across the government. For incoming presidents, transitions represent their first oppor-

tunity to transform their policy priorities into practice, and to successfully manage this

transformation, they must successfully direct the administrative apparatus. To aid in

transition, a variety of scholars and research organizations issue treatises to support

effective management of this transition. For example, the Partnership for Public

Service (2018) issued a Presidential Transition Guide, which focuses broadly on the

management of building a team, managing the appointment process so that all posi-

tions are filled, and planning for policy implementation. Similarly, during the most

recent transition, the National Academy of Public Administration (2016) issued a

report outlining several recommendations for the 2016 presidential transition, with a

strong focus on budgetary and performance issues. Finally, the U.S. Government

Accountability Office (2016) issues a series of “Management Agenda” products out-

lining important areas of consideration during Congressional and Presidential transi-

tions. These various management guides offer practical insights for establishing

priorities, addressing critical issues, and laying the groundwork for successful perfor-

mance throughout presidential transitions, but, due in part to the non-political nature

of these organizations, they refrain from offering strategic advice on guiding the

bureaucracy to pursue specific policy preferences.

One of the predominant methods for presidents to control the administrative state is

the strategic use of their political appointment powers. Significant scholarship has

explored these strategies and the complex relationships between political appointees

and careerists. In The Strategic Presidency (1996), Pfiffner reviews both the Reagan

and Carter administrations, and finds that both administrations initially adopted a

practice of choosing department heads and allowing them to choose lower level

appointees, and both reversed course after these layered appointees did not sufficiently

support presidential policy preferences. Durant (1992) offers a stronger caution,

957060ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X20957060Review of Public Personnel AdministrationBook Review

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