Selection Of Ministers Research Articles

Half of the Cabinet: Explaining Ethiopia’s Move to Gender Parity in the Government

Half a year after rising to the position of prime minister in Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet that included an unprecedented 50% women, including the first female minister of defense. This was noteworthy, because women had not been well-represented in Ethiopian political leadership. What motivated the appointment of so many women? We argue that the selection of ministers in aid-dependent global south countries responds to external cues—and that this leads to more women in the cabinet. Our findings regarding Ethiopia’s 50% female cabinet suggest that the role of external cues in cabinet selection deserves further investigation.

Double Standards: The Role of Gender and Intraparty Politics in Swedish Cabinet Appointments

Are female politicians less likely to be promoted to specific ministerial posts, and is it important for them to toe the party line? This article focuses on whether the selection of ministers has a gender-specific dimension. Building on role congruity theory and research showing that female and male politicians are evaluated in a different manner in leadership positions, we present some original hypotheses. For example, we hypothesize that female politicians are less likely to be appointed to cabinet when they have held gender-incongruent committee positions in parliament. We also hypothesize that women are less likely to be appointed to cabinet posts when they have previously deviated from the party line. In an empirical analysis of Swedish ministerial appointments in six cabinets, we find that female politicians were less likely to be appointed to cabinet posts when they have held positions in ‘masculine’ parliamentary committees and when they deviated from the party line in their parliamentary speeches. These results suggest that women are more harshly judged when holding positions that are not in line with traditional gender stereotypes and have important implications for our understanding of gender and political leadership.

The electoral connection of ministerial selection in the UK

ABSTRACTMany studies have examined the determinants of ministerial selection. However, the effect of electoral incentives on government post allocation has so far not been studied in the literature. Drawing on data from the United Kingdom over the period 1992–2015, this article investigates the relationship between the selection of ministers and the electoral interests of the actors in this selection process – party leaders and members of parliament (MPs). The findings demonstrate that the greater the electoral safety of constituencies, the more likely are MPs to have a higher office. The results reveal a broader conception of party strategy in government formation than previously documented. The paper thus suggests that electorates can affect the allocation of ministerial positions in the UK.

Resolving conflict in bipolar societies

Ethnically divided societies that might be described as ‘balanced bicommunal’ (where there are two communities, each of which comes close to representing half of the population) pose a particular challenge to conventional principles of collective decision-making, and commonly threaten political stability. This article analyses the experience of two such societies – Northern Ireland and Fiji – with a view to exploring whether there are common processes in the route by which political stability has been pursued. We assess the manner in which a distinctive relationship with Great Britain and its political culture has interacted with local conditions to produce a highly competitive, bipolar party system. This leads to consideration of the devices that have been adopted in an effort to bridge the gap between the communities: the Fiji constitution as amended in 1997, and Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement of 1998. We focus, in particular, on the use of unusual (preferential voting) formulas for the election of parliamentarians and of an inclusive principle in the selection of ministers, and consider the contribution of these institutional devices to the attainment of political stability. We find that, in both cases, the intervention of forces from outside the political system had a decisive impact, though in very different ways. In addition to being underpinned by solid institutional design, for political settlements to work effectively, some minimal level of trust between rival elites is required.

The Selection of Ministers in Israel: Is the Prime Minister ‘A Master of His Domain’?

One of the most noticeable and well studied trends in current political research is the presidentialization of parliamentary democracies. This trend is manifested in three distinct but inter-relate...

Mapping the formative dynamics of the 13th Constitutional Government: from General Estates to the governmental mandate and beyond

This paper delves into the background of the formative dynamics of the 13th Constitutional Government led by the socialist Antnio Guterres and aims primarily at providing insight into the genuine criteria governing Guterres's selection of ministers and portfolio allocation. It will also shed light upon the background causes leading to the six reshuffles that the cabinet went through in its lifetime. This work argues that Guterres's selection of ministers was a priori conditioned by the dynamics and success of the Estados Gerais. Eventually, however, it came to obey a tripartite formula the formula of the three Ps: old pals, party allies and prominent independents. With the unfolding of the governmental mandate, as the meritocratic logic underlying that formula exhibited major limitations, the process of de-selection of ministers led to the retrenchment of the distinguished independents in favour of the party allies within the cabinet.

Conflicten Rond Predikantsbenoemingen in Enkele Hollandse Steden, Ca. 1670-1770

AbstractWithin the rather complex relationship between State and Church the appointment of ministers has always been of the greatest importance. Attempts to make a regulation, which would be valid in all the towns of the province of Holland, were not successful because of the fundamental disagreement between church and civil authorities on the limits of competence on both sides. The "broad" church council, composed of ministers, elders and deacons and sometimes also former elders and representatives of the town government (commissarissen politiek) officially decided on the selection of ministers. In almost every town however, the church council had to ask the burgomasters for permission to set the procedure in motion. In the end the council had to present a select list of three candidates and finally the name of the candidate the majority of its members thought preferable. This procedure offered the town governments ample opportunities to intervene. They could decline to initiate the selection process, impose conditions or veto unsuitable candidates. Many church councils considered these interventions as unacceptable encroachments on their rights and freedom. The appointments of ministers were always potential causes of discord between the civil authorities and the church councils. The article deals with the many conflicts in a number of towns in the province of Holland between 1670 and 1770. The beginning is marked by the political crisis of 1672 which resulted in the restoration of the stadholderly regime under William III. The Voetians, the Reformed orthodoxy, hoped for support of the stadholder in their theological struggle with the adherents of Coccejus. In the second half of the 18th century this conflict had lost its original character and furthermore the dissension within the Reformed Church was no longer mainly based on disagreement between these two groups but the changed situation had produced a tripartition. Somewhat later political elements began influencing the internal relations. Analysis of the conflicts leads to the conclusion, that local circumstances often played a decisive part. It also demonstrates the complex and comprehensive character of these collisions. Yet it is possible to categorize the various conflicts by distinguishing between different, although closely interconnected, dominating factors: 1. religious antagonism within the Reformed Church (the richtingenstrijd); 2. discord between political factions within the town governments; 3. differing opinions on the relation between church and state at the local level and more specifically the part played by the church council in the selection procedure; 4. nepotism and favouritism; and 5. meddling by the Orange stadholders in the appointments of ministers under William III and after the restoration of the Orangist regime in 1747.

Prime Ministerial Power and the Selection of Ministers in India

The process of selection to the national council of ministers in India, as well as the role of the institution, has changed immensely during the past three decades. While ministers exhibit the characteristics of political elites generally—through their form and level of education, their occupational endeavor, and their pursuit of politics as a vocation— ministerial selection has been a function of prime ministerial strategies to assert the dominance of the prime minister's position and to augment its power. Strategies pursued have been determined by personal temperament and reactions to the leavening of public sentiment, the induction of new classes and generations of elites into the public arena, and the changing configurations within the party system. In this article the selection of ministers to the central cabinet in India is examined in terms of this context of power through a comparison of the reigns of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.