Portuguese Ruling Elites in Comparative Perspective – Who Governs Southern Europe in the Third Millennium?

LusoGlobe Research in Charge

António Costa Pinto

End

Abstract

This project proposes a new approach to an old question in political science: How competent are our rulers? Distinguishing cabinet members according to their personal skills and resources is a widespread and powerful analytical tool. Notions like partisans, technocrats, technopols, amateurs, or outsiders are nowadays at the core of an ample range of theories and arguments on executive power. At the same time, however, these distinctions have been widely criticized. While conceptual labels may be the same, measurement criteria remain mostly based on rudimentary procedures and separated efforts, affecting validity and reliability, and hindering comparability and accumulation of knowledge. Based on a new strategy to characterize ministerial profiles that face those deficits, the project proposes a broad theory reassessment in the field of government formation and termination. Specifically, we raise three questions. First, what are the patterns of rulers’ recruitment? This is our main variable of interest, where the new analytical tool (open typology) will be used to produce a systematic mapping of ministers’ profiles and their distribution across portfolios’ areas over the last two decades in four southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal). For this last country, as a leading case for future research, also junior ministers will be observed. Second, what explains the patterns of ministerial recruitment? Here, ministers’ profiles take the place of the dependent variable to test leading theories in the field, namely the party government model (focusing on partisans), the technocratic model (focusing on technocrats), and a variant of the principal-agent model (focusing on non-partisans). The open typology will allow us to include also the hybrid profiles of specialists (partisans with technical expertise) and amateurs (neither partisan affiliation nor expertise), and to systematically analyze other four definitional attributes (political competences, group affiliation, loyalty, and gender). Third, what are the impacts of ministers’ profiles on cabinet stability? Here ministers’ profiles is observed as an independent variable to assess widespread explanatory arguments of government and ministers, mostly elaborated with a basis on large-N studies. Along the different phases, the project integrates a comparative approach with case study analyses.

Researchers

Goffredo Adinolfi, ISCTE

Associated Missions

Study Visits (Southern European countries).

Outputs

Book; Annual Event

Funding and Institution