Author Meets Critics: "Roadblocked: Joe Biden's Rocky Transition to the Presidency"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

The peaceful transition between presidential administrations in the United States has been an accepted norm and pillar of the democracy since the founding. In 2020, the country slid backwards on this democratic principle when the outgoing administration refused to cooperate with the incoming one and sought to overturn the results of the election.

In Roadblocked: Joe Biden's Rocky Transition to the Presidency (Univ of Kansas Press 2024), Heath Brown explores this dramatic 78-days based on over 125 interviews with members of the transition team and other stakeholders as well as quantitative and archival analysis. The findings show for the first time the extent of resistance from the Trump administration and failure to cooperate with the Biden-Harris team, evidence of democratic backsliding. The book also demonstrates how these features of the 2020 transition had an impact on the role and actions of interest groups, think tanks, and policy organizations during the process. In the end, though the 2020 transition illustrated a serious type of democratic backsliding, it also showed signs of an advancing democracy, as the thousand-plus person Biden-Harris transition team had as many women and men for the first time and had a record number of people of color helping the new administration get ready for Day 1.

This author meets critics panel will debate the findings of the book and relate them to the conference theme as well as discuss the implications for future presidential transitions. The critics draw on varied perspectives, including the study of past presidential transitions, race and public policy, and women and politics.

The chair will be:
Nancy Kassop, Professor of Political Science, SUNY New Paltz

The three critics are:
Lilly Goren, Professor of Political Science, Carroll University
Karen Hult, Professor of Political Science, Virginia Tech University
Periloux Peay, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland

The author is:
Heath Brown, Associate Professor of Public Policy, City University of New York, John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center

Sub Unit

• Division 23: Presidents and Executive Politics

Chair

• Nancy Kassop SUNY New Paltz

Presenters

• Karen M. Hult Virginia Tech

• Lilly J. Goren Carroll University

• Periloux Peay University of Maryland, College Park

• Heath Brown City University of New York, Graduate Center and John Jay College