Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:32:07.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Replacing Cabinet Ministers: Patterns of Ministerial Stability in Parliamentary Democracies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2008

JOHN D. HUBER  and
CECILIA MARTINEZ-GALLARDO
JOHN D. HUBER*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
CECILIA MARTINEZ-GALLARDO*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*
John D. Huber is Professor, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027-6900 (jdh39@columbia.edu).
Cecilia Martinez-Gallardo is Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (cmg@email.unc.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examine the stability of individual ministers across parliamentary democracies. Our data show that this stability is only loosely related to the stability of cabinets, making it impossible to rely primarily on arguments about cabinet duration to explain patterns of individual stability. We argue that to explain patterns of individual stability, it is useful to focus on the problems that party leaders have in identifying which individuals have the qualities necessary to do their jobs well. The institutional powers of ministers, coalition attributes, and party-specific variables should affect the uncertainty that party leaders have about which individuals will be successful ministers, on one hand, and the ability of party leaders to replace unsuccessful ministers, on the other. Our empirical tests support these arguments. The analysis therefore has implications for expectations regarding the circumstances under which minister stability should positively or negatively influence the policymaking performance of government.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 102 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 169 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Box-Steffensmeier, Janet, and Zorn, Christopher J.. 2001. “Duration Models and Proportional Hazards in Political Science.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (October): 972–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne, Eric, Frendeis, John, and Gleiber, Dennis. 1984. “An Events Approach to the Problem of Cabinet Stability.” Comparative Political Studies 17 (July): 167–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, Ian, 1985. “Party Factions and Government Reshuffles: a General Hypothesis Tested against Data from 20 Post-war Democracies.” European Journal of Political Reseurch 13 (3): 327–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, Ian, and Keman, Hans. 1990. Parties and Democracy: Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in Twenty States. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Castles, Francis, and Mair, Peter. 1984. “Left-Right Political Scales: Some Expert Judgments.” European Journal of Political Research 12 (March): 73–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, Kelly, Lewis, David E., and McCarty, Nolan. 2000. “The Tenure of Political Appointees.” Paper presented at the 2000 American Political Science Association, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Cox, David. 1972. “Regression Models and Life Tables.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B 34: 187–220.Google Scholar
Dewan, Torun, and Dowding, Keith. 2005. “The Corrective Effect of Ministerial Resignations on Government Popularity.” American Journal of Political Science 49 (February): 46–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diermeier, Daniel, and Stevenson, Randolph T.. 1999. “Cabinet Survival and Competing Risks.” American Journal of Political Science 43 (October): 1051–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diermeier, Daniel, and Stevenson, Randolph T.. 2000. “Cabinet Terminations and Critical Events.” American Political Science Review 94 (September): 627–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druckman, James N., and Warwick, Paul V.. 2005. “The Missing Piece: Measuring Portfolio Salience in Western European Parliamentary Democracies.” European Journal of Political Research 44 (January): 17–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, David L., Bates, Robert, Goldstone, Jack, Kristensen, Ida, and O'Halloran, Sharyn. 2006. “Democratic Transitions.” American Journal of Political Science 50. (August): 551–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabel, Matthew J., and Huber, John D.. 2000. “Putting Parties in their Place: Inferring Party Left-Right Ideological Positions from Manifestos Data.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (January): 94–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Sanford. 2002. “Stochastic Dependence in Competing Risks.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (January): 200–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Sanford, Anderson, William D., and Tomlinson, Andrew R.. No date. “Reconsidering Presidential Appointee Tenure.” Unpublished manuscript, Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Hougaard, Philip. 2000. Analysis of Multivariate Survival Data. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, John, and Inglehart, Ronald. 1995. “Expert Interpretations of Party Space and Party Locations in 42 Societies.” Party Politics 1 (January): 73–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, John D., and Martinez-Gallardo, Cecilia. 2004. “Cabinet Instability and Experience in the Cabinet: The French Fourth and Fifth Republics in Comparative Perspective.” British Journal of Political Science 34 (January): 27–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indridason, Indridi H., and Kam, Christopher. 2005. “The Timing of Cabinet Reshuffles in Five Westminster Parliamentary Systems.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 30 (August): 327–63.Google Scholar
Indridason, Indridi H., and Kam, Christopher. Forthcoming. “Cabinet Reshuffles and Ministerial Drift.” British Journal of Political Science.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Alt, James E., Burns, Nancy, and Laver, Michael. 1990. “A Unified Model of Cabinet Dissolution in Parliamentary Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 34 (August): 846–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael, and Hunt, W. Ben. 1992. Policy and Party Competition. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael, and Shepsle, Kenneth A.. 1994. Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Government. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strom, Kaare. 1990a. Minority Government and Majority Rule. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strom, Kaare. 1990b. “A Behavioral Theory of Competitive Political Parties,” American Journal of Political Science 34 (May): 565–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warwick, Paul. 1994. Government Survival in Parliamentary Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Warwick, Paul. 1992. “Rising Hazards: An Underlying Dynamic of Parliamentary Government.” American Journal of Political Science 36 (November): 857–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar