POSC150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Senatorial Courtesy, Sonia Sotomayor, Divided Government
30 Aug 2016
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The double expectations gap: gap between presidential promises and powers of the office. In fact, the powers of the president are much more limited than campaign rhetoric lends us to believe: unlimited promises versus limited ability to deliver. We demand that candidates promise us everything during campaign. President"s relatively limited formal powers prevent him from delivering on promises while in office: head of state vs. head of government. Head of state: the apolitical, unifying role of the president as symbolic representative of the whole country (ex: in uk it"s the queen) Head of government: the political role of the president as leader of a political party and chief arbiter of who gets what resources (ex: in uk it"s the pm) Must please party, broker deals, work to pass legislation- can piss off a lot of ppl in congress. Most nations separate these roles so that symbolic duties won"t be contaminated by politics.
