Cabinet reshuffles are common in parliamentary systems where ministers are elected from the legislative branch. They also happen in other types of political system and are even more frequent after a general election. Changing the composition of a government can have important consequences for both policy and politics.
A cabinet reshuffle can signal to the opposition that the prime minister intends to change course, and it can also send a message that the government has lost control of the cabinet (and therefore a good reason for a no-confidence motion). Moreover, excessive turnover can make it difficult for ministers to build up expertise in their departments. This makes it harder for parliament and ministerial colleagues to hold them to account for their actions. And it can empower rivals by releasing them from collective cabinet responsibility and allowing them to criticise the government openly on their own behalf.
These reasons make cabinet reshuffles a key element in the process of political decision making, but they can also be problematic. As a result, cabinet reshuffles are controversial and the topic of much debate. They are an important feature of the practice of governing, but they have rarely been subject to comprehensive, systematic, comparative study (see for example Dowding and Dumont 1985). This collection of articles aims to fill this gap by providing an overview of the state of the field. Some of the articles present a synthesis of existing research, whilst others provide an empirical analysis of the effects of reshuffles in different contexts.
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