One president at a time? How the president‐elect shapes U.S. foreign policy during the transition

Abstract

Over the past six decades, the presidential transition scholarship has grown increasingly rich, yet little systematic attention has been paid to the foreign policy activities of the president-elect. The idea that the United States has “one president at a time” may be a constitutional reality, but it is also a political fiction, more honored in the breach than in the observance. This article demonstrates how U.S. foreign policy operates along several simultaneous tracks during the formal transition period between the election and inauguration. We develop and illustrate a new framework for understanding the underexplored role and significance of the president-elect as a foreign policy actor during the era of the “modern presidency.” By refuting the notion that the president-elect is a nonentity, this article lays the foundation for more active exploration of the foreign activities of presidents-elect and their impact on U.S. foreign policy.