The Selection of Ministers in Europe: Hiring and Firing

There has been considerable academic work examining the formation and break-up of governments and some work examining political elites (such as legislative elites) but little work, if any, focusing on the intersection of these two areas. This book examines the issue of the selection and de-selection of ministers in specially written chapters providing a thorough introduction for scholars and students alike. Cabinets are formed of individual ministers, whose stock may rise and fall, not only with that of their party, but through their general behaviour, their actions, and with the successes and failures of their policies. The book examines, through a series of case studies of countries with differing institutional and cultural structures, the process of selection, shuffling and removal of ministers in national cabinets since 1945. It is therefore concerned with government where cabinets are drawn from, and supported by, legislature (generally speaking forms of parliamentary government). The Selection of Ministers in Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of political parties, comparative politics, and governance.Dowding, Keith is the author of 'The Selection of Ministers in Europe: Hiring and Firing' with ISBN 9780415430814 and ISBN 041543081X.