Uncovering the Mystery of Presidential "Czars"

Abstract

In the fall of 2009 there was an influx of media reports across news agencies regarding the topic of presidential policy advisors known as "czars." While recent media reports have criticized presidential czars, the expansion of the Executive Office of the President is not a new phenomenon. For the past seventy years, the institution of the United States Presidency has greatly expanded in power. Between Departmental Secretaries, members of Congress, "czars" and the President there are redundancies within the government and these additional appointments in the Executive Office of the Presidency affect communication, legislation, and policy implementation. In this article I will consider the ways in which the appointment of special advisors, better known as "czars," to the President, influences policy implementation and I will try to clarify the ambiguity of the role of czars. Specifically, I will study the case of President Obama's policy goal to create renewable energy and clean energy initiative using content analysis to determine whether the use of czars allows for more effective policy implementation or, if it hinders communication throughout the branches of government.