{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Political Science","slug":"new-books-in-political-science-408770","podcast_index_feed_id":408770,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/6sq2TaYn","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314/c3014373-19d9-4555-a6a8-e5b8e97c934c/3000x3000/af9ef2afee05125bb265ca99804e6c8a.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":600,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science","last_synced_at":"2026-10-02T08:23:11.868223+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770"},"episode":{"title":"William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe, \"Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency\" (Princeton UP, 2025)","slug":"william-g-howell-and-terry-m-moe-trajectory-of-power-the-rise-of-the-strongman-presidency-princeton-up-2025","published_at":"2026-09-10T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/william-g-howell-and-terry-m-moe-trajectory-of-power-the-rise-of-the-strongman-presidency-princeton-up-2025","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314/episodes/218cc95b-674a-4bfb-acc8-f56f55ed6b67/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=7743b695-b4cd-4c21-acde-c1a69915e314&awEpisodeId=218cc95b-674a-4bfb-acc8-f56f55ed6b67&feed=6sq2TaYn","summary":"Political Scientists William Howell and Terry Moe have a new book out that explores how the United States constitutional system has given way to the establishment of a kind of strongman presidency, disconnected in many ways from the constraints designed to keep the American president from becoming autocratic or dictatorial. Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency (Princeton UP, 2025) traces the expansion of the administrative state in the United States, which transpired during much of the 20th century, particularly earlier in the 20th century with the sizeable increase of the Executive branch and development of a more complex governmental bureaucracy. Howell and Moe were drawn to this project because of what they saw as the crisis of democracy in the United States, with the vast extension of presidential power and the rise of the “strongman” presidency. In noting that those who pursue the presidency are by nature power seekers, the argument in Trajectory of Power is not to deny the president’s power, particularly not the powers sketched out within the constitutional structure, but to focus on the ways in which certain presidents have grabbed at more power, and, in a variety of instances, have also broken laws along with having broken norms and traditions. Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency traces the ways in which, over the course of the 20th century, there was a certain symmetry in the ways that both Democratic and Republican presidents operated as the head of the administrative state, facing the same constraints and incentives while in office. But this symmetry starts to diverge in the latter half of the 20th century and has substantially diverged in the 21st century. Part of the historical discussion focuses in on the ways in…","meta_description":"Political Scientists William Howell and Terry Moe have a new book out that explores how the United States constitutional system has given way to the estab…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2975,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-political-science-408770/episodes/william-g-howell-and-terry-m-moe-trajectory-of-power-the-rise-of-the-strongman-presidency-princeton-up-2025/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-political-science-408770/william-g-howell-and-terry-m-moe-trajectory-of-power-the-rise-of-the-strongman-presidency-princeton-up-2025.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}