Dr. Christopher Kelley

Assistant Teaching Professor
Christopher Kelley


PHONE: 513-529-3959
OFFICE: 218 Harrison Hall
EMAIL: chris.kelley@miamioh.edu

Email to schedule a VIRTUAL appointment

Degrees and Institutions

  • Ph.D. Political Science, Miami University
  • M.A. International Affairs, University of Dayton
  • B.A. Political Science, University of Dayton

Selected Publications

  • The Unitary Executive and the Modern Presidency, (ed. with R. Barilleaux). Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX, 2010 (in press).

  • Executing the Constitution: Putting the President Back into the Constitution.  Christopher S. Kelley (ed.). SUNY Press, NY, 2006.

  • "Going it Alone: The Politics of the Constitutional Signing Statement." Social Science Quarterly (March, 2010). (with B. Marshall).

  • "The Unitary, or Unilateral Executive? Presidential Power in the Bush Administration." American Review of Politics(Fall/Winter, 2008-2009).

  • "Assessing Presidential Power: Signing Statements and Veto Threats as Coordinated Strategies." American Politics Research 29.2 (2009). (with B. Marshall).

  • "The Last Word: Presidential Power and the Role of Signing Statements."  Presidential Studies Quarterly 38.2 (June, 2008). (with B. Marshall).

  • "Who is at Fault Here? The Bush Administration, Presidential Power, and the Signing Statement." MSL Law Review (2008).

  • "Like Father, Like Son: The Presidents' Bush and the Signing Statement." White House Studies 7.2 (December, 2007).  (with B. Marshall).

  • "Contextualizing the Presidential Signing Statement."Presidential Studies Quarterly 37.4 (December, 2007).

  • "A Matter of Direction: The Reagan Administration, the Signing Statement, and the 1986 Westlaw Decision."William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 16.1 (December, 2007).

  • “Understanding Leviathan’s Malaise: Stateness and the Crisis of Governability in Post-Communist Polities,” in: Denisa Kostovicova and Vesna Bojicic-Dzelilovic, eds., Persistent State Weakness in the Global Age (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009): 19-37.

Work in Progress

Dr. Kelley is co-author on a manuscript on the presidential signing statement that examines its development and use from the 19th century through the 21st century. He is also working on a manuscript that looks at the development of the unitary executive theory of presidential power and how that theory was distorted by the George W. Bush administration.

updated: 6/24/2022