What can presidents actually do?
Presidential Power
How presidents lead, especially when acting without Congress, and how public opinion and institutional checks constrain executive discretion.
Related workPower, place, and accountability in American political life.
Reeves studies how presidents act through institutions, how public resources move across communities, and how citizens judge leaders when policy meets lived experience.
- Professor of Political Science Washington University in St. Louis
- Director, Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy Washington University in St. Louis
- Director, The Frick Initiatives Washington University in St. Louis
- Senior Advisor to the Chancellor Washington University in St. Louis
- Visiting Fellow Hoover Institution
Research Where resources land How public resources and presidential incentives move across communities. 
Books Limits on power How citizens place limits on unilateral presidential power. 
Teaching Governing and being governed Courses on citizenship, elections, institutions, and political accountability. Questions
Four questions run through the work.
When do citizens assign responsibility?
Democratic Accountability
When citizens reward or punish leaders, and how visibility, timing, and policy design shape democratic accountability.
Related workHow does place enter national politics?
Political Geography
How political behavior and government experience differ across urban, suburban, and rural communities, and why those divides shape polarization and representation.
Related workWhere does federal attention go?
Federal Resource Allocation
How presidents allocate resources across states and communities, with attention to strategic targeting, inequality, and institutional bias.
Related workReeves's research explains how power is exercised, how policy is delivered, and when democratic accountability succeeds or fails.
Books
These questions are explored most fully in two books.
Book · 2022
No Blank Check
The Origins and Consequences of Public Antipathy towards Presidential Power
Cambridge University Press, 2022
No Blank Check examines the origins of public attitudes toward unilateral presidential power and the limits citizens place on executive action.
Book · 2015
The Particularistic President
Executive Branch Politics and Political Inequality
Cambridge University Press, 2015
The Particularistic President examines how executive branch politics shapes the distribution of federal benefits and contributes to political inequality.