Presidents and Cabinets

Abstract The relationship between presidents and cabinets has attracted less scholarly attention than the prime minister/cabinet relationship. The relationship is typically captured in the theoretical and conceptual terms of the principal-agent framework. In presidential systems, cabinet is the agent of the president, as it is the agent of parliament in parliamentary systems, but in semi-presidential systems, and especially in the president-presidentialism variety, cabinet has two principals. This has resulted in hypotheses for empirical research into the powers of the president over cabinet, and the level of conflict between president and cabinet. With regard to the dominance of the president, the proportion of non-partisan ministers in the cabinet has been shown to be an important indicator. However, the chapter ends with the suggestion to look beyond regime-level differences. The category of presidential systems in particular hides considerable variety, and the study of presidential systems, especially in Latin America, has important potential in this regard.