The Constraint of Executive Power on Ideological Behavior: State Attorneys General as Ideological Partisans and Chief Prosecutors

Executive office holders in the United States are generally highly ideological partisans, like other American politicians. However, they also hold positions of power that give them interests in taking actions contrary to their ideological preferences. The public’s expectations of the office holder and their own self-interest in exercising power provide substantial cross-pressure against behaving in accordance with their ideological beliefs.

I test the potential of these limitations.

DISCUSSANT: Michael Sances, Temple University

This is a Political Institutions and Political Economy Collaborative event.