Critique of Leloup and Shull

The President and Congress: Collaboration and Combat in National Policymaking by LeLoup and Shull discusses the President and Congress and each one’s role in creation of policy. The authors base their new edition of the book on two writers: Mark Peterson and his “tandem institutions approach” and Charles Jones and the “separations perspective.” (LeLoup and Shull, pg. 7) LeLoup and Shull view the Congress and the President as coequal partners and believe that the “shared governance” perspective is much closer to reality than a president-centered approach. (LeLoup and Shull, pg. 7)
The authors based their book on four major themes, which are: first, the authors argue that the presidency-centered approach to this subject, which focuses on the president as the main initiator of policymaker, does not accurately reflect policymaking as it stands currently. Secondly, it is more evident than there is no dominant single pattern in the policymaking environment. In the book, the a...