Dr. Justin Vaughn came to Boise State University in 2012 as faculty in the Department of Political Science. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at Texas A&M University and taught at Cleveland State University from 2007-2012. Dr. Vaughn has authored several studies of presidential politics, and his current research projects include examinations of the role popular culture plays in shaping the presidential image, empirical analyses of management theory as applied to the inner workings of the White House, and how presidents strategically utilize bipartisan rhetoric. He currently is working on a book about the rise of presidential policy czars, and co-editing volumes on the rhetoric of Barack Obama and the linkage between popular culture, gender, and the American presidency. He has done numerous interviews with media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, the BBC, and Al Jazeera, and helped provide election night analysis of the 2008 presidential election for the Cleveland FOX affiliate. Dr. Vaughn has been a member of the executive council of the Presidency Research Section of the American Political Science Association, and served as chair of the Executive Politics Section for the Western Political Science Association Annual Meeting in 2012.
Articles
Manager-in-Chief: Applying Public Management Theory to Examine White House Chief of Staff Performance (with David B. Cohen and José D. Villalobos), Political Research Quarterly (2012)
In an effort to examine the causal determinants of performance dynamics for the administrative presidency,...
Politics or Policy? How Rhetoric Matters to Presidential Leadership of Congress (with José D. Villalobos and Julia R. Azari), Presidential Studies Quarterly (2012)
In this article, we examine the linkage between presidential policy proposal messages and legislative success....
Pushing the Agenda: Presidential Leadership in U.S. Lawmaking, 1953-2004, Journal of Politics (2011)
The Provisional Pulpit: Modern Presidential Leadership of Public Opinion, by B. Rottinghaus, Journal of Politics (2011)
Revolt Against the Czars: Why Barack Obama’s Staffing Critics Are (Mostly) Wrong (with José D. Villalobos), Presidency Research Group Report (2010)
Rather than view the alleged proliferation of “czars” in recent presidential administrations as a threat...
Books
Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics (with Lilly J. Goren), Faculty Authored Books (2013)
Contributions to Books
The Policy Czar Debate (with José D. Villalobos), The Obama Presidency: A Preliminary Assessment (2012)
Presidential policy czars have been an important and powerful component of President Barack Obama’s approach...
Character-in-Chief: Barack Obama and his Pop Culture Predecessors, The Iconic Obama, 2007-2009: Essays on Media Representations of the Candidate and New President (2012)
At some point during the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain, it...
White House Staff (with José D. Villalobos), New Directions in the American Presidency (2010)
The White House Staff provides the bureaucratic framework that makes presidential leadership possible. Even though...
Presentations
Change, Continuity, and Controversy in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong (2012)
The 2012 campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney provides an excellent window into contemporary...
Other
Report Card: Obama's Science, Technology, Health and Security Policies (with Jose Villalobos and Sunny Lee), The Dupont Summit on Science & Technology Policy (2010)
Chair:
Justin Vaughn and Jose Villalobos
Appraising the Leadership Role of Obama's Science, Technology and...
The Obama Administration's Challenges after the "War on Science": Reforming Staffing and Protecting Scientific Integrity (with Jose Villalobos), The Dupont Summit on Science & Technology Policy (2009)
Chair: Guillermo De Los Reyes, University of Houston
Abstract: In this paper, we examine the...