Modern Reconstructive Presidential Leadership: Reordering Institutions in a Constrained Environment

Abstract

Modern reconstructive presidents face an institutional environment that affords strong veto possibilities to defenders of the status quo, making today's politics resistant to the order shattering and order creating style of change most frequently associated with the leadership type. This project responds to the possibility that the rise of these conditions suggests the end of such recon- structive politics. It applies fresh insights gleaned from historical-institutionalist scholarship to investigate the full range of options that are available to presi- dents inheriting the opportunity to reorder politics. Mathematical simulation, via Polya's urn model, is used to demonstrate how institutional displacement, layering, conversion, and drift can be used - independently and together - to recalibrate the equilibrium of a path-dependent system and thus alter develop- mental pathways. This not only suggests that modern presidents can still reorder and rejuvenate politics in a constrained environment; it updates expectations and warns of potential dangers.