Charles Walcott and Karen Hult maintain that the organization of the White House influences presidential performance much more than commonly thought and that organization theory is an essential tool for understanding that influence. Their book offers the first systematic application of organizational governance theory to the structures and operations of the White House Office.
Using organizational theory to analyze what at times has been a rather ad hoc and disorganized office might seem quixotic. After all, the White House Office exists within a turbulent political environment that encourages expedient decision-making. And every four to eight years it must be "reinvented" by presidents who have their own theories and preferences about how to organize a staff to serve their policy needs.
But Walcott and Hult argue that White House staffs are not simply puppets of presidential preference and style. Yes, staff structures evolve primarily from presidents' strategic responses to external demands. But those structures in turn significantly influence how the executive branch perceives and responds to further demands.
The first part of their book lays out the theoretical argument. The second examines White House "outreach" congressional liaison, press relations, personnel selection, executive branch oversight, and interest group and intergovernmental liaison. The third focuses on White House handling of policy development and implementation. The fourth analyzes staff structures that facilitate the operation of the presidency itself: presidential writing and scheduling, staff management, and cabinet coordination. The book concludes by identifying general patterns in the emergency, nature, and stability of governance structures in the White House.
Original and instructive, Governing the White House provides a much-needed primer on the inner workings of the White House staff and will be an essential volume for anyone studying the presidency.
Review :
"Governing the White House advances our understanding of the relationship between the White House as a political arena and its organizational structure. Walcott and Hult trace the development of functional specialization in the White House and propose a theoretically rich explanation for the organizational structures of those specializations. An indispensable book for students of the institutionalized presidency."--Peri E. Arnold, author of Making the Managerial Presidency: Comprehensive Reorganization Planning, 1905-1980"The authors bring a relatively novel theoretical approach to bear on a subject that warrants considerable attention but is seldom exposed to rigorous analysis. Their credentials for such an effort are superb and their scholarship is of top quality."--Joseph A. Pika, author of The Politics of the American Presidency and The Presidential Contest
"This book represents a nice blend of solid research, skillful assessment, and good writing. It adds an important dimension to the literature on the institutional presidency."--American Political Science Review"This book is impressive in its sweep of analysis through seven presidencies, and it is important for its subjection of White House organizational development to rigorous analysis. It will make fascinating reading for those who specialize in White House organization as well as for those scholars whoa re familiar with only part of the institutional presidency literature."--Political Science Quarterly
"Walcott and Hult have written a fascinating, rigorous analysis demonstrating the utility of organization which in theory re-forms each four or eight years."--Journal of Politics
"Walcott and Hult provide a much-needed model of organizational governance, useful historical examples of White House staffing concerns, and applications of organization theory."--Southeastern Political Review
"Walcott and Hult provide a theoretically informed, carefully reasoned, and meticulously researched study of presidential staffing of the White House office."--Choice
