Promoting the President's Foreign Policy Agenda

Abstract

Executive agreements represent a powerful tool for pursuing commitments with other nations across the spectrum of foreign policy issues. In particular, the executive agreement gives presidents the flexibility to act independently of Congress. The authors' research demonstrates, quantitatively, how presidents use international executive agreements to advance their foreign policy priorities. The authors evaluate the foreign policy agendas of the Carter, Reagan, G. H. W. Bush, and first Clinton administrations and test whether the executive agreements signed during each administration serve to further the individual foreign policy goals of each president. The authors find that presidents are more likely to devote personal attention to an agreement that furthers a specific policy priority, and they identify greater agreement activity in areas that correspond to presidential initiatives.