What factors affect the ability of chief executives to produce effective policies? In 1985 Alan Garcia, the first APRA president since the founding of the party, promised a new direction for the country. However, by 1987 Garcia had initiated a series of economic reforms that produced arguably the worst economic crisis in Peru’s modern history. Was it President Garcia’s own mistakes that led to such results? Or was the Peruvian presidency – as an institution – a limiting factor in Garcia’s ability to produce effective policies? Despite such results, Alan Garcia returned to the presidency in 2006. This turn of events allows us to explore important questions about executive policymaking and learning. For example, how did Garcia’s policy priorities change over the course of his two administrations? What lessons did President Garcia learn from his first presidency? In this paper, I borrow insights from organizational theory and institutionalization theory to explore the impact of the presidency. The presidency, as opposed to the president, refers to the bureaucracy that informs and advises the president. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the presidency and to analyze its impact on Alan Garcia’s policymaking across two administrations.
