논문

No other single actor plays as significant a role in the American state policy
process as does a governor. Governors are seen as the most powerful political
figures in most states. The state's legislature, bureaucracy, press, politics, and
public policies are highly influenced by or bear the imprint of the governor (Beyle,
1996).

Governors are supposed to have a lot of roles in the state. A handbook written
just for governors lists the following: the head of the executive branch, legislative
leader, the head of the party, national figure, family member, and ceremonial chief
(National Governors Association, 1978). As the central political figure in the state
government, the governor plays a great role in establishing the state's legislative
agenda through such actions as preparation of the executive budget and the
state-of-the-state address. The governor also actively participates in the
legislature's deliberations on both budgetary matters and state policy initiatives.
Moreover, state executive departments expect the governor to establish
administrative goals and implementation strategies, and state residents look to the
governor for political leadership and guidance (Dilger, 1995).

Whether gubernatorial powers need to be strengthened has been
an important controversial issue in American politics. Strong gubernatorial power
has been an accepted tenet of reformers for many years. Reformers criticize that
term limitations, the long ballot, earmarked funds, inadequate appointive powers,
as well as other factors have operated to “shackle” the governor. They have
recommended, thereby, extending gubernatorial terms, permitting reelection,
increasing appointive authority, and providing governors with staff support
(Thompson, 1995; Herbert & Brudney, 1988). In contrast, others (e.g., Elling 1994;
Gove, 1964; Harris, 1959) point out that governors as chief executives have
already won enough positional powers in many jurisdictions and that factors
such as personality, skill, and situation loom much larger in the success of the
chief executives than their formal authority.

There are many important questions to be considered before discussing whether
“stronger” governors are needed. Most of all, we need to examine the current
status of the gubernatorial powers exactly. Despite many existing studies,
indeed, it is still open to question whether and how governors influence public
policies in America (Barrileaux & Berkman, 2003). This strongly indicates that we
need to develop a comprehensive and refined index of gubernatorial powers.
Without this, undoubtedly, an attempt to make American governors strong will lose
it course. The refined index of gubernatorial powers may provide a frame of
reference for comparing the governors in terms of their powers, thereby leading to
a better understanding of the differences in governors' powers.

In an effort to develop a comprehensive index of gubernatorial powers, this study
addressed the following questions. First of all, what factors contribute to
governors' powers? What variables constrain governors' powers? Second, how
can we structure a refined governors' power index? Are there other new
indicators that contribute to providing a general profile of gubernatorial powers?
Third, to what extent do governors' powers vary across the American states?
How can one say that this governor is more powerful than any other governor?
Finally, what are important implications of the index for governors in Korea? How
can we construct an index of governors' powers in Korea?

To answer these daunting questions, this study focuses on three separate sets
of variables associated with gubernatorial power resources: institutional powers,
personal powers, and enabling powers. Integrating the three power resources
into a single index, this study proposed a more comprehensive and refined index
of gubernatorial powers and drew its important implications for governors' powers
in Korea. In Korea, indeed, developing a refined index of governors' powers
helps enlighten how much clout governors have in their provinces.