George C. Edwards III is University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Jordan Chair in Presidential Studies Emeritus at Texas A&M University. He has served as both the Winant Professor of American Government and the Olin Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford, the John Adams Fellow at the University of London, and in senior visiting positions at Sciences Po-Paris, Peking University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is an Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford, and was the founder and from 1991-2001, the director, of The Center for Presidential Studies.
Edwards has written or edited 28 books on American politics and public policy making and was editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly 1998-2022. Among his recent books, Prisoners of Their Premises (University of Chicago Press) seeks to explain why talented policymakers often make disastrous decisions; Changing Their Minds? (University of Chicago Press) analyzes the inability of President Trump to overcome the usual constraints on presidential leadership; Predicting the Presidency (Princeton University Press) shows how understanding the nature of presidential leadership allows us to predict the legislative success of a president and investigates the president’s leadership of those predisposed to support his initiatives; Overreach (Princeton University Press), analyzes presidential leadership during the Obama presidency; The Strategic President (Princeton University Press) offers a new formulation for understanding presidential leadership; On Deaf Ears (Yale University Press) examines the effectiveness of presidential leadership of public opinion; and Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America (Yale University Press) evaluates the consequences of the method of electing the president.
Professor Edwards has served as president of the Presidency Research Section of the American Political Science Association, which has named its annual dissertation prize in his honor and awarded him its Career Service Award. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he has received the Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service from the U.S. Army and the Pi Sigma Alpha Prize from the Southern Political Science Association. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has spoken to more than 300 universities and other groups in the U.S. and abroad, keynoted numerous national and international conferences, and done several thousand interviews with the national and international press. Grants from the National Science Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation have funded his work. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Roper Center, the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and many editorial boards.
Dr. Edwards also applies his scholarship to practical issues of governing, including advising Brazil on its constitution and the operation of its presidency, Russia on building a democratic national party system, Mexico on elections, and Chinese scholars on democracy. He also authored studies for the 1988, 2000, 2016, and 2020 U.S. presidential transitions.
Edwards has written or edited 28 books on American politics and public policy making and was editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly 1998-2022. Among his recent books, Prisoners of Their Premises (University of Chicago Press) seeks to explain why talented policymakers often make disastrous decisions; Changing Their Minds? (University of Chicago Press) analyzes the inability of President Trump to overcome the usual constraints on presidential leadership; Predicting the Presidency (Princeton University Press) shows how understanding the nature of presidential leadership allows us to predict the legislative success of a president and investigates the president’s leadership of those predisposed to support his initiatives; Overreach (Princeton University Press), analyzes presidential leadership during the Obama presidency; The Strategic President (Princeton University Press) offers a new formulation for understanding presidential leadership; On Deaf Ears (Yale University Press) examines the effectiveness of presidential leadership of public opinion; and Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America (Yale University Press) evaluates the consequences of the method of electing the president.
Professor Edwards has served as president of the Presidency Research Section of the American Political Science Association, which has named its annual dissertation prize in his honor and awarded him its Career Service Award. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he has received the Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service from the U.S. Army and the Pi Sigma Alpha Prize from the Southern Political Science Association. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has spoken to more than 300 universities and other groups in the U.S. and abroad, keynoted numerous national and international conferences, and done several thousand interviews with the national and international press. Grants from the National Science Foundation, the Smith-Richardson Foundation, and the Ford Foundation have funded his work. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Roper Center, the Board of Trustees of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and many editorial boards.
Dr. Edwards also applies his scholarship to practical issues of governing, including advising Brazil on its constitution and the operation of its presidency, Russia on building a democratic national party system, Mexico on elections, and Chinese scholars on democracy. He also authored studies for the 1988, 2000, 2016, and 2020 U.S. presidential transitions.
