Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Semenova, Elena
Data de Publicação: 2020
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397
Resumo: This article examines the appointments and survival of expert ministers (i.e., ministers with educational and professional expertise in the portfolio to which they are appointed) in new democracies. Using a novel data set on 11 Central and Eastern European countries from 1990 until 2012, I test competing hypotheses derived from delegation theory, communist legacies approach, technocratic populism studies, and semi-presidentialism literature. The first study shows that experts without political experience (technocrats) have specific cabinet appointment patterns distinguishing them from party politicians and politically experienced experts. For example, technocrats have high chances of being appointed during an economic downturn. The conditional risk set survival analysis has revealed that compared to their politically experienced colleagues, technocrats have higher chances of remaining in their positions if there was a change in the PM’s candidacy. Moreover, they have long careers independently of the continuity of the PM’s party in government and the PM’s partisan status. Strikingly, patterns of portfolio specialization from the communist period remained in place after the regime change (e.g., expert ministers holding the portfolios of finance and economy). However, holding these specific portfolios does not decrease the minister’s risk of being dismissed. These findings have ramifications for issues surrounding cabinet formation, institutional choice, and populism in new democracies.
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spelling Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?communist legacies; economic crisis; politically experienced experts; post-communism; semi-presidentialism; technocracy; technocratic populismThis article examines the appointments and survival of expert ministers (i.e., ministers with educational and professional expertise in the portfolio to which they are appointed) in new democracies. Using a novel data set on 11 Central and Eastern European countries from 1990 until 2012, I test competing hypotheses derived from delegation theory, communist legacies approach, technocratic populism studies, and semi-presidentialism literature. The first study shows that experts without political experience (technocrats) have specific cabinet appointment patterns distinguishing them from party politicians and politically experienced experts. For example, technocrats have high chances of being appointed during an economic downturn. The conditional risk set survival analysis has revealed that compared to their politically experienced colleagues, technocrats have higher chances of remaining in their positions if there was a change in the PM’s candidacy. Moreover, they have long careers independently of the continuity of the PM’s party in government and the PM’s partisan status. Strikingly, patterns of portfolio specialization from the communist period remained in place after the regime change (e.g., expert ministers holding the portfolios of finance and economy). However, holding these specific portfolios does not decrease the minister’s risk of being dismissed. These findings have ramifications for issues surrounding cabinet formation, institutional choice, and populism in new democracies.Cogitatio2020-12-17info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3397Politics and Governance; Vol 8, No 4 (2020): Varieties of Technocratic Populism around the World; 590-6022183-2463reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3397https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3397/3397https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/3397/1433Copyright (c) 2020 Elena Semenovahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSemenova, Elena2022-10-21T16:04:10Zoai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3397Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T16:13:53.487651Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
title Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
spellingShingle Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
Semenova, Elena
communist legacies; economic crisis; politically experienced experts; post-communism; semi-presidentialism; technocracy; technocratic populism
title_short Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
title_full Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
title_fullStr Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
title_full_unstemmed Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
title_sort Expert Ministers in New Democracies: Delegation, Communist Legacies, or Technocratic Populism?
author Semenova, Elena
author_facet Semenova, Elena
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Semenova, Elena
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv communist legacies; economic crisis; politically experienced experts; post-communism; semi-presidentialism; technocracy; technocratic populism
topic communist legacies; economic crisis; politically experienced experts; post-communism; semi-presidentialism; technocracy; technocratic populism
description This article examines the appointments and survival of expert ministers (i.e., ministers with educational and professional expertise in the portfolio to which they are appointed) in new democracies. Using a novel data set on 11 Central and Eastern European countries from 1990 until 2012, I test competing hypotheses derived from delegation theory, communist legacies approach, technocratic populism studies, and semi-presidentialism literature. The first study shows that experts without political experience (technocrats) have specific cabinet appointment patterns distinguishing them from party politicians and politically experienced experts. For example, technocrats have high chances of being appointed during an economic downturn. The conditional risk set survival analysis has revealed that compared to their politically experienced colleagues, technocrats have higher chances of remaining in their positions if there was a change in the PM’s candidacy. Moreover, they have long careers independently of the continuity of the PM’s party in government and the PM’s partisan status. Strikingly, patterns of portfolio specialization from the communist period remained in place after the regime change (e.g., expert ministers holding the portfolios of finance and economy). However, holding these specific portfolios does not decrease the minister’s risk of being dismissed. These findings have ramifications for issues surrounding cabinet formation, institutional choice, and populism in new democracies.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-12-17
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397
oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3397
url https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397
identifier_str_mv oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/3397
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3397
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i4.3397
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3397/3397
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/3397/1433
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Elena Semenova
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Elena Semenova
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cogitatio
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Politics and Governance; Vol 8, No 4 (2020): Varieties of Technocratic Populism around the World; 590-602
2183-2463
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
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