Ministerial Elites Research Articles

Beyond Linguistic Peripheral Elites: The Provincial Imbalance of Cabinet Ministers in Belgium

AbstractDespite the creation of regions and communities in the second half of the 20th century for resolving ethnic tensions between the French- and Flemish-speaking communities, provinces are still relevant to understand contemporary Belgian politics. Observing provincial political dynamics is essential to understand multi-level political elite dynamics and territorial cleavages in contemporary Belgium. For instance, political parties are internally structured in provincial federations, and federal elections rely on provincial electoral districts. Combined with constitutional factors such as language and region, this article investigates the provincial origins of ministerial elites in all Belgian federal cabinets between 1980 and 2020. It observes that provinces are far from being perfectly present in a balanced manner in the federal government: some provinces are overrepresented while others – in particular large provinces – are underrepresented. This provincial imbalance is stable over time and independent on the types of cabinet but can be explained by party strategies and vote-seeking considerations.

The Territorial Representativeness of Italian Ministerial Elites: From the Regional “Parity Norm” to the Rise of Technocrats

AbstractThe territorial composition of governments (that is, the geographical origin of its members) has received little attention from political scientists. However, prime ministers, ministers, and junior ministers clearly have a territorial characterization and preferential attachments to specific places that can potentially affect the way decisions are made and resources are allocated. In this article, we focus on these aspects, showing the evolution of the territorial representativeness of Italian governmental elites over the last four decades and proposing some interpretations of its changes. In particular, we describe the transition from a balanced regional representation (the “parity norm”) to a multitude of different patterns of territorial representation that we observe across parties nowadays. We propose three explanations for such changes: the first is based on the transformation of the party system in the nineties, with the emergence of parties such as the Northern League, with a specific regional focus; the second is based on the regionalization of the Italian state and its consequences on political career paths; the third is based on the increasing recruitment of technocrats in ministerial offices.

Los gabinetes de la Concertación en Chile (1990-2010)

Este artículo analiza los perfiles ministeriales y la relación entre experticia y tipo de ministerio en las cuatro administraciones de la Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia en Chile entre 1990 y 2010. El objetivo es avanzar en el conocimiento empírico de estos temas, a través de la vinculación de la literatura como tecnocracia y élites ministeriales. El argumento del trabajo es que existe una relación entre tipo de ministerio (político, social, económico o mixto) y el tipo de educación de los ministros. El análisis estadístico de los datos confirma que existe relación entre la formación de doctorado en economía y los ministerios definidos como económicos.

Paths to Power: The Making of Cabinet Ministers in Turkey

This article examines the trends in the political and social pathways to the cabinet in the modern Turkish Republic. It intends to fill the lacunae in the literature on Turkeys cabinets and ministerial elites in several respects. First, it examines the cabinets and the changes and/or continuities in their composition from 1923 until 2009, a period which has not been covered in its entirety by previous research. Second, it provides data and analysis on the social background and recruitment patterns of prime ministers and cabinet members in the governments. Third, it focuses on the impact of regime changes and democratic transitions on the continuities and changes in the composition of the ministerial elites. Fourth, it locates the Turkish case within the wider comparative framework of studies on ministerial elites, particularly the findings of research on Southern Europe. The main argument of the article is that the aggregated profiles of the cabinets have displayed significant changes, along with some notable continuities, since the establishment of the Republic.

When Soft Law Overshadows other European Resources: Portuguese Reconciliation Policies and Usages of Europe

In the analysis of the usages of Europe in Portuguese reconciliation policies presented in this article, we found a general concordance/temporal sequence between EU and national level developments. In an overall context of limited policy change induced by the EU, the main actors using EU resources were political entrepreneurs: firstly, ministerial elites, and secondly, high-level officials either in government or in the independent bodies for gender equality. These actors used primarily cognitive and financial resources: the European Employment Strategy (cognitive usage), and EU funds (strategic usage), whereas legal resources were not used. Finally, cognitive usage occurred in the beginning of the reform process (the EU was reform initiator) whereas strategic usage took place to support existing goals during the reform process (the EU was reform supporter).

Fascist Era Elites (1). Family matters: ministerial elites and the articulation of the Francoist dictatorship

The question of the integration of ‘political families’ in the New State, and its position at the various centres of decision making, is essential in understanding Francoism, not so much its nature (how ‘fascist’ it was), as its shifting policies. In order to explain the relationship between the regime and these families, this paper addresses the following four aspects: 1. The birth of the regime from a historical perspective and how the different forces of the Francoist coalition integrated themselves into the new institutions; 2. How the dictator articulated his power in the nascent New State and his relations to those political families; 3. The composition, functions, means and political power of the single party, the Falange, during the ‘Fascist’ period of 1939–1945; and finally, 4. The permanent organizational arrangement, both formal and informal, which shaped the dictatorship’s mechanisms for decision making.

Les élites ministérielles en Grèce de 1974 à l'an 2000

This article presents provisional results of a new study on the social composition of Greek ministerial elites in 1974-2000. During that period, this elite seems to have become younger over time. The ministerial elite is dominated by males, a fact that has not changed over time. The majority of ministers have been lawyers. However, with the passage of time, members of other liberal professions (such as engineers and economists) have been able to occupy ministerial posts. This tendency was already discernible during the colonels 'regime and became more visible in the decades of the 1980s and the 1990s. During the closing years of the twentieth century the number of journalists and university professors among Greek ministers has also risen. This shows an on-going evolution of the representation of different professions among the ministerial elites. Finally, the number of ministers who have been educated abroad has decreased over time. It seems that changes at the level of ministerial elites occur more slowly than the evolution of society. Such changes may be accounted for by the emergence of a new role for the state in society.

Elites, Single Parties and Political Decision-making in Fascist-era Dictatorships

This article considers four dictatorships that have each been associated with European fascism: Portuguese Salazarism, Spanish Francoism, Italian Fascism and German National Socialism. It seeks to ascertain the ‘locus’ of political decision-making authority, the composition and the recruitment channels of the dictatorships' ministerial elites during the fascist era. The interaction between the single party, the government, the state apparatus and civil society appears fundamental if we are to achieve an understanding of the different ways in which the various dictatorships of the fascist era functioned. The party and its ancillary organisations were not simply parallel institutions: they attempted to gain control of the bureaucracy and select the governing elite – forcing some dictatorships towards an unstable equilibrium in the process, even while they were the central agents for the creation and maintenance of the leader's charismatic authority. The article focuses on an analysis of the gradations of these tensions that may be illustrated by the eventual emergence of a weaker or stronger ‘dualism of power’. This ‘dualism of power’ appears to be the determining factor in explanations for the typological and classificatory variations used to qualify those dictatorships that have been historically associated with fascism, and which have been variously defined as ‘authoritarian’ and ‘totalitarian’, or as ‘authoritarian’ and ‘fascist’.

Ministerial Elites in Southern Europe: Continuities, Changes and Comparisons

Ministerial elites in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal have changed dramatically since these states began their slow march to democracy in the 19th century. Though changes have not homogenized the ministerial elites of Europe's South, each country has responded to the pressures of modernization, democratization and Europeanization with an increased role for the technically trained in government. Italy's response to these pressures stands out as unique, but each of the other states has managed to combine a decrease in the role of pure politicians with high rates of public satisfaction with democracy.

Ministerial Elites in Greece, 1843-2001: A Synthesis of Old Sources and New Data

The study of Greek political elites used to be concentrated on parliamentary deputies. Ministerial elites were rarely studied. In this article, we take a long-term view of the Greek ministerial elites, studying their socio-political profile from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. We find that this profile does not change so much with regime change, as with political developments at certain time points within specific regime periods. At these points, new political leaders were ushered in to power. Examples were Eleftherios Venizelos in 1911 and Andreas Papandreou in 1981. Changes in personnel were not accompanied by changes in geographical origin or professional outlook, which took much longer to effect. In the nineteenth century mainly landowners and state officials dominated cabinets. After the beginning of the twentieth century, liberal professions, particularly lawyers, were over-represented among ministers. This pattern continued throughout the twentieth century. Both the predominance of lawyers and the changes in the profile of ministers over time are attributed to the type of state built in modern Greece, a clientelist, over-centralized and legalistic state which only recently has started its transformation, requiring a different, more modern type of politician.

Ministers in Italy: Notables, Party Men, Technocrats and Media Men

The study explores the long-term transformations of social and political profiles of ministerial elites, in a country where the process of democratization started in the second half of the nineteenth century and was interrupted for more than 20 years by the Fascist regime (1924-43). After presenting a brief assessment of the role and composition of the Italian cabinets along the distinct phases of democratic life, the article gives attention to some specific indicators concerning the social origins and the political background of the ministerial elite. The main evolutional feature shown by the data is the transition from the predominance of a 'notable' type of minister (before Fascism) to the absolute prevalence of party-professionals. The consolidation of the new pattern was achieved thanks to the long period of democratic and party stability which followed the Second World War, and was characterized by strong unwritten rules of ministerial recruitment and circulation. These included a long party career, an almost compulsory 'parliamentary' path to ministerial offices, a fairly proportional allocation of positions according to regional origins and the limited importance of technocratic competencies. The final section focuses on the changes that occurred within the Italian ministerial elite during the last decade: here the weakening of the party-professional pattern of recruitment, the greater role of technocratic careers and a more pronounced variability in the social and political backgrounds are in evidence.

Ministers and Regimes in Spain: From the First to the Second Restoration, 1874-2002

This contribution studies the composition of the Spanish cabinet elites through different political regimes and transition periods, those regimes including a constitutional monarchy, two democracies, two dictatorships and a people's Republic. The discontinuity of ministerial elites is the rule, with the relative exception of the two transition periods in the early 1930 and the middle 1970s. The elite in general is fairly heterogeneous, recruited more or less from the whole country and not dominated by a particular age cohort. In terms of occupational background the important presence of civil servants, professors, military officers and professionals, characterized the elite. Many if not most of them would be of middle class milieus, sometimes upper sometimes middle-middle class. Apparently not many were businessmen, farmers or landowners without ancillary occupation - like the German Junkers - and practically none manual worker-trade unionist like many of the Labour Party MPs in Britain. The professional background suggests that ideas, ideologies, mentalities, legal thinking, were as or more important than the representation of economic or class interests. For each period attention has been paid to the most relevant aspects of the institutional framework, party system and cabinet structure, as well as the extent of elite replacement and - when applicable - the nature of regime change.