Masters Thesis

President or king? Obama's unilateral action on climate change in the face of a hostile congress

During his eight years in office, President Obama faced numerous obstacles in his pursuit of comprehensive climate legislation. While obstructionist Congressional Republicans undermined policies to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, denying the existence of anthropogenic climate change and blocking efforts to cap carbon dioxide emissions, President Obama acted unilaterally on multiple occasions to promote climate legislation. In this research, I suggest that President Obama's personality, as evidenced by his scores for individual psychological traits, can help us understand why he used executive authority to circumvent congressional approval for climate policies that would otherwise fall victim to partisan politics. Working from this premise, I employ Margaret Hermann's Leadership Trait Analysis (LTA) coding system to evaluate Obama's personality traits and to establish that the President's leadership style and "motivation for seeking office" are consistent with my argument.

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