Cabinet Reshuffles in Parliamentary Democracies: A Typology and Framework for Comparative Analysis

Abstract

While previous research on cabinet reshuffles has offered valuable distinctions in terms of their timing, other defining features of reshuffles have largely escaped comparative inquiry. This article seeks to develop a more complete comparative assessment of cabinet reshuffles in parliamentary systems that reaches beyond the ‘classic’ samples of Westminster democracies. We seek to distinguish different ‘types’ of cabinet reshuffles that account for several key features, namely: the mode, the scope, the key principal and the party dimension of reshuffles. The usefulness and validity of this typology are demonstrated by a comparative assessment of cabinet reshuffles in four major West European parliamentary democracies. The conceptual distinctions and related empirical observations offered in this article should prove valuable, in particular when it comes to gauging the likely political and policy effects of different types of cabinet reshuffles, and should, ultimately, provide the foundations of a theory of comparative cabinet reshuffles.

Political Oppositions in Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes: A State-of-the-Field(s) Review

“…There is an established institutional bias in political research on party-based forms of opposition towards parliamentary democracies that has also marked the more recent chapters of international research in this field (see Helms 2016; Ilonszki and De Giorgi 2018). Classic approaches to studying parliamentary processes have been applied to analysing the parliamentary behaviour of new types of party.…”

Gendering Cabinet Reshuffles in France and Spain

“…First, media attention to ministerial selection is greater during the immediate post-election period, when prime ministers or presidents form their first cabinet. 'The presentation of a team of ministers after an extended election campaign (and, in many countries, lengthy negotiations between different parties) regularly marks a genuine highlight of the government-building process in terms of media attention and public excitement' (Helms and Vercesi 2022). For leaders who have made public commitments to diversity, activist women and the media pay close attention to women's inclusion in the new cabinet.…”