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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 ([email protected]).
Cecilia Martinez-Gallardo is Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 ([email protected]).
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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

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