A scholar of presidential power, public policy, and democratic accountability.
Andrew Reeves at the launch of the Frick Initiatives. Photo: Suzy Gorman.Feng Sheng Hu, Andrew Reeves, Andrew Martin, and Mark Wrighton at the Weidenbaum Center annual reception, May 16, 2024. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.Andrew Martin, Alberto Musalem, Thomas Melzer, Andrew Reeves, James Bullard, Karen Branding, and Elizabeth Larson at The Past, Present, and Future of the Federal Reserve, September 29, 2025. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.Chancellor Andrew Martin, former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, and Andrew Reeves at a Weidenbaum Center discussion of The Triumph of Economic Freedom, April 9, 2026. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.George Zimmer and Andrew Reeves during Zimmer's visit to Washington University, April 18, 2023. Photo: Jerry Naunheim Jr./WashU.Andrew Reeves speaking at the Hoover Institution Research on American Institutions conference, May 2023.Federal Reserve Governor Adriana D. Kugler in conversation with Andrew Reeves at a Weidenbaum Center forum, April 3, 2024. Photo: Jerry Naunheim Jr./WashU.Andrew Reeves in conversation with former U.S. Representative Carolyn Bourdeaux at Governing Past Gridlock: Why Fiscal Responsibility Still Matters, January 14, 2026. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.Andrew Reeves and Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November 13, 2024. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.Andrew Reeves in conversation with Bob Frick at the launch of the Frick Initiatives. Photo: Suzy Gorman.Mahendra Gupta, Penny Pennington, and Andrew Reeves at the launch of the Frick Initiatives. Photo: Suzy Gorman.Andrew Reeves, Chancellor Andrew Martin, Barbara Frick, and Bob Frick at the launch of the Frick Initiatives. Photo: Sid Hastings/WashU.Andrew Reeves delivering remarks at Washington University, 2025. Photo: Dan Donovan/WashU.
Andrew Reeves is Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He studies the American presidency, public policy, and democratic accountability. His work examines how presidents exercise power, how government distributes resources, and how citizens’ experiences of policy shape their evaluations of elected leaders. He is particularly interested in the geographic and political inequalities that emerge when public policy is put into practice.
Reeves’s books challenge prevailing accounts of presidential power. No Blank Check demonstrates that Americans care not only about what presidents accomplish but also about how they exercise their authority. The Particularistic President, winner of the 2016 Richard E. Neustadt Award, shows how partisan and electoral incentives shape the distribution of federal resources. His scholarship has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics.
Reeves directs the Weidenbaum Center, a hub for interdisciplinary social science at WashU. The center supports ambitious scholarship, builds research infrastructure, convenes conversations on pressing public issues, and connects scholars and their ideas with policymakers, civic leaders, and the broader public.
He also directs the Frick Initiatives, a civic venture that invests in “ideas that travel.” The initiatives support programs and partnerships that translate ideas into action, bring diverse audiences together, and develop promising projects across the university and in the broader community.
Reeves also serves as Senior Advisor to the Chancellor and as a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He received his PhD from the Department of Government at Harvard University.
