Full Description
The second volume of the Routledge Handbook of Sociological Perspectives on the American Presidency offers a bold and timely examination of the American presidency as a sociopolitical institution shaped by global currents, historical legacies, and evolving modes of leadership.
This handbook, designed for sociologists, political scientists, historians, and other related experts offers a compelling examination of the American presidency through the framework of sociological theory. Organized into five thematic sections, this volume traverses the terrain of political campaigns, populist resurgence, media spectacle, and the symbolic choreography of presidential performance. It interrogates the influence of celebrity culture, digital technologies, and generational shifts on electoral outcomes and public perception. Beyond U.S. borders, the volume examines the global reverberations of presidential decision-making—from climate diplomacy and migration policy to nuclear tensions and authoritarian entanglements. Featuring comparative analyses of figures such as Trump, Harris, Putin, and Netanyahu, the chapters within this collection situate political leadership within broader sociological frameworks, including institutional theory, rhetorical politics, and transnational governance. It also engages with methodological innovations and critical paradigms that illuminate how individuals and systems navigate power, legitimacy, and resistance.
Grounded in rigorous scholarship and a global perspective, this handbook is an essential resource for understanding the presidency not as a national artifact, but as a dynamic force in shaping contemporary governance, political identity, and global order.
Contents
List of FiguresList of TablesList of Contributors
Introduction: The Presidency as Global Performance: Symbolic Power, Media Spectacle, and the Crisis of Democratic Representation
Adebowale Akande
Part I: Presidency in Crisis: Populism, Power, and the Unraveling of Democratic Ideals
1. The Presidential Difference: Persuasion and Power in a Fragmented Global Order
Adebowale Akande, Vito Bobek, Kim A. Haynes, Estee Ti. Akande, David A. Jones, and Filippo Ferrari
2. American Presidency: Donald Trump, Populism, and Democracy—Not the Same but Interconnected
Barbara Wejnert
3. The Politics of Spectacle: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and the Collapse of Democratic Norms
Douglas Kellner
4. A Strategy of Withdrawal: Surges, Power Projection, and the Limits of U.S. Statecraft
Luis da Vinha and Anthony Dutton
5. From Blockchain-Based Fundraising to Virtual Engagement Tools: How Technology Shaped the 2024 Presidential Campaigns
Vito Bobek, Andrej Lisec, and Tatjana Horvat
6. The Pinwheel Presidency: Trump's Foreign Policy and the Unravelling of Global Order
José Filipe Pinto
7. Spectacle and Empire: Law, Governance, and Democracy
Adebowale Akande
8. The Politics of Influence: Presidential Power and the Shaping of Voter Behavior
Adebowale Akande, David Lester, and Bijou Yang
9. Mr. Trump and the Law: Power, Legitimacy, and Legal Institutions in American Society
David A. Jones
10. The Price of Power: Money, Autocracy, and the Decline of Liberal Democracy
Bruce E. Johansen
Part II: Structures of Power and Displacement: Theoretical Frames and Innovative Research Methodologies
11. Rethinking Research: Paradigms, Methodological Power, and the Politics of Inquiry
Adebowale Akande with Vito Bobek and Tatjana Horvat
12. Migration in Crisis: Qualitative Methods for Understanding and Studying Migrants on the Move in the Trump Era
Dan Ha Le, Charlotte Jonasson, and Jakob Lauring
13. Theoretical Paradigms: Systems Theory, Social Action Theory and Power, and Relations Dependence and Authority
David C. Coker
Part III: Disorder and Dominion: Global Power Shifts, Political Mythmaking, and the Erosion of Innocence
14. Mass-Scale Protests: Vladimir Putin and Disruptive Politics—Russia's "Hybrid Aggression" against Georgia
Andrey Makarychev
15. Propaganda and Power: Shaping Public Perceptions in Modern Politics
Vlad Mǎrginaş and Sergiu Mișcoiu
16. Children Fall Apart: The Presidency, Structural Violence, and the War on Childhood
Adebowale Akande, Funmi Odewale, Vito Bobek, Estee Ti. Akande, Steven G. Koven, Kim A. Haynes, Elizabeth Goryunova, Ester Shapiro, and David C. Coker
Part IV: Specters of Power and Ideologies of Collapse—Denial, Supremacy, and the Myth of Progress
17. Zombie Causes: Moldy Corpses, Rising Again
Barbara Alice Mann
18. A Trumpian Fantasy Hoax as Existential Threat
Bruce E. Johansen
19. The best of all Possible Worlds: Measuring Progress In Relative vs Absolute Terms
Leonardo Díaz Abraham and Rodrigo R. Gómez Garza
20. Climate Crimes and the Trump Administration: The Politics of Environmental Destruction
Ronald C. Kramer
Part V: Contours of Presidential Power: Law, Foreign Policy, and Global Order
21. The Press and Presidential Public Diplomacy: Coverage of the Clinton and Obama Trips to Ghana in the New York Times and Ghanaian TimesTodd Schaefer
22. Breaking Barriers: Kamala Harris and the Struggle for Women's Political Leadership
Timothy C. Bagwell and Heather C. Roberson
23. Netanyahu: A War Horse, Not the Messiah's Donkey
José Filipe Pinto
24. World on the Brink: An Essay on World War III
Zaki Kamal
25. America, Nuclear Stability in Asia, and a Rising China
Stephen J. Cimbala
26. U.S. Foreign Policy Traditions and the Foreign Policy of the First Donald J. Trump Administration (2017-2020)
Yannis A. Stivachtis
27. Democracy in Retreat: Misrule, Extremism, and the Transatlantic Collapse of the Political Center—From the 1930s to Today
Vito Bobek, Julian Seebacher, and Simona Kustec
28. The New Cold War with Russia: Trump's Influence on the Global Divide
Armin Krishnan
29. Constitutional Meaning in an Age of Contestation: Beyond Judicial Finality and Executive Absolutism
Adebowale Akande and Louis Fisher
Epilogue
