The cabinet is a team of about 20 politicians who have really important jobs and meet about once a week to discuss how to run the country. A cabinet reshuffle is when the Prime Minister changes who is in charge of different departments. It can also include putting new people in to those roles and changing the responsibilities of other departments.
Political leaders reshuffle their top teams for many reasons. For example, they may want to signal shifts in policy by moving a minister around, or they might be trying to solve a conflict within the cabinet. They can also be used to reward good work by promoting someone or remove someone who isn’t doing a very good job.
Reshuffles are a hugely significant event for the country and the people who depend on the work of the government. However, there has been relatively little scholarly analysis of the significance and impact of reshuffles. This special collection aims to bridge this gap and bring together the latest research on cabinet reshuffles in order to provide a rich and comprehensive contribution to understanding them.
Our contributors draw on a variety of different methodologies and theoretical approaches to understand the significance of cabinet reshuffles, including feminist institutionalism, resource-oriented perspectives and rational choice institutionalism. In addition, most contributions are based on original empirical data from a wide range of countries. As a result, this collection is unique in its breadth and depth of study and will provide an invaluable resource for those who are interested in the dynamics of cabinet politics.