Welcome

Andrew Reeves is the director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy and professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and an associate of the Taylor Geospatial Institute. At WashU, he is an affiliate of the Center for the Environment, the Division of Computational and Data Sciences, and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity. He has previously held research fellowships at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and at the Center for the Study of American Politics at Yale University.

His research explores the connections between American political institutions, electoral behavior, and public policy, with a particular focus on the presidency and executive politics. He examines how political accountability and institutional design shape governance and policy outcomes, contributing to our understanding of presidential power, voter behavior, and the urban-rural divide. Reeves’ work shows that modern presidents often prioritize partisan and electoral interests, challenges the idea that the public is indifferent to executive power, and investigates the forces behind political polarization. His current research examines government responses and public opinion on climate crises and local governance, analyzing how local contexts and institutions shape public policy and democratic representation.

His most recent book, No Blank Check: The Origins and Consequences of Public Antipathy towards Presidential Power with Jon C. Rogowski was published in 2022 with Cambridge University Press ( Amazon | CUP). His first book, The Particularistic President: Executive Branch Politics and Political Inequality with Douglas Kriner is the winner of the 2016 Richard E. Neustadt Award ( Amazon | CUP).