The United States' presidential selection process is intricate,constantly evolving, and imperfectly understood bymost American voters. Th e long campaign brings to lightconf icting concepts of the role of the president, inherentconstraints on his powers, contradictions in the selectionprocess, and possibilities for change or compromise thatare at once its strength and its weakness.

The Selection and Election of Presidents is based on aseries of meetings and seminars organized by a French-American organization concerned with the presidentialselection/election process. A varied group of expertsranging from former presidential candidates, to partyleaders to professors engaged each other in an informalsetting with much give and take between the speakers andquestions from participants. Th e result is a primer on howpolitical parties operate, their relationship to other elementsin the American political system, and how eff ectivelyparties operate in the light of changes or reforms.

The exchanges resulting from the seminars that arethe basis of this volume provide a still-valuable outlineof how the American system works when presidents areselected.

Robert S. Hirschfield was dean of communications at theCity University of New York. In addition to this book, he is theauthor of The Constitution and the Court: The Development ofthe Basic Law Th rough Judicial Interpretation and he has writtennumerous articles and reviews that have appeared in The NewYork Times, The Nation, and Public Policy among others.