Political Control and the Deep State: Presidential Power and Environmental Agencies in Brazil and the US

Katherine Bersch
Kellogg Visiting Fellow
Who Governs? Presidential Power and Environmental Agencies in Brazil and the US
This project identifies the determinates of presidential power by explaining variation in the ability of presidents to achieve policy outcomes through the bureaucracy, whether through the issuance of orders, regulations with the force of law, or implementation decisions. Integrating political science and legal scholarship, the argument calls attention to overlooked factors that shape executive policymaking and illustrates the argument by examining the executive policymaking process in two important democracies—the US and Brazil—with a focus on environmental policy.
Katherine Bersch
Kellogg Visiting Fellow Katherine Bersch is the Nancy Akers and J. Mason Wallace Assistant Professor of Political Science at Davidson College. She is also an investigator with The Governance Project at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Her research focuses on democratic quality in developing countries, with an emphasis on governance reform and state capacity in Latin America...
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