Cabinet (government)
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A cabinet (also known as ministers or secretaries) is a group of members usually from the executive branch. Cabinets are typically the body responsible for the day-to-day management of the government and response to sudden events, whereas the legislative and judicial branches work in a measured pace, in sessions according to lengthy procedures.
The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries, it is a collegiate decision-making body with collective responsibility, while in others it may function either as a purely advisory body or an assisting institution to a decision-making head of state or head of government.
In some countries, particularly those that use a
Legally, under both types of system, the Westminster variant of a parliamentary system and the presidential system, the cabinet "advises" the head of state: the difference is that, in a parliamentary system, the monarch, viceroy or ceremonial president will almost always follow this advice, whereas, in a presidential system, a president who is also head of government and political leader may depart from the Cabinet's advice if they do not agree with it.
In practice, in nearly all parliamentary democracies that do not follow the Westminster system, and in three countries that do (Japan, Ireland, and Israel), very often the cabinet does not "advise" the head of state as they play only a ceremonial role. Instead, it is usually the head of government (usually called prime minister) who holds all means of power in their hands (e.g. in Germany, Sweden, etc.) and to whom the cabinet reports.
In both presidential and parliamentary systems, cabinet officials administer executive branches, government agencies, or departments. Cabinets are also important originators for legislation. Cabinets and ministers are usually in charge of the preparation of proposed legislation in the ministries before it is passed to the parliament. Thus, often the majority of new legislation actually originates from the cabinet and its ministries.
Terminology
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In most governments, members of the cabinet are given the title of
While almost all countries have an institution that is recognizably a cabinet, the name of this institution varies. In many countries, (such as Ireland, Sweden, and Vietnam) the term "government" refers to the body of executive ministers; the broader organs of state having another name. Others, such as Spain, Poland, and Cuba, refer to their cabinet as a Council of Ministers, or the similar Council of State. Some German-speaking areas use the term Senate (such as the Senate of Berlin) for their cabinet, rather than the more common meaning of a legislative upper house. However, a great many countries simply call their top executive body the Cabinet, including Israel, the United States, Venezuela, and Singapore, among others.
The supranational European Union uses a different convention: the European Commission refers to its executive cabinet as a "college", with its top public officials referred to as "commissioners", whereas a "European Commission cabinet" is the personal office of a European Commissioner.
The term comes from the Italian gabinetto, which originated from the Latin capanna, which was used in the sixteenth century to denote a closet or small room. From it originated in the 1600s the English word cabinet or cabinett which was used to denote a small room, particularly in the houses of nobility or royalty. Around this time the use of cabinet associated with small councils arose both in England and other locations such as France and Italy. For example, Francis Bacon used the term Cabanet Counselles in 1607.[1]
Selection of members
In presidential systems such as the United States, members of the cabinet are chosen by the president, and may also have to be confirmed by one or both of the houses of the legislature (in the case of the US, it is the Senate that confirms members with a simple majority vote).
Depending on the country, cabinet members must, must not, or may be members of parliament. The following are examples of this variance:
- In most presidential systems, cabinet members cannot be sitting legislators at the same time. A legislator who is offered a cabinet position, wishes to accept it, and get confirmed for the position, must resign from their seat.
- In the countries utilizing the Westminster system, such as the United Kingdom or Australia, cabinet ministers must be appointed from among sitting members of the parliament (MP). In the UK, it can be from either the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
- In countries with a strict separation between the executive and legislative branches of government (e.g. Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium), cabinet members must not simultaneously be a member of parliament; appointed/nominated cabinet members are required to give up their seat in parliament. In some countries, the outgoing MP may be substituted with another MP that comes from the same party as the former without going through a special or by-election.
- The intermediate case is where ministers may be members of parliament, but are not required to be, as in Finland and Spain.
Some countries that adopt a presidential system also place restrictions on who are eligible for nomination to cabinet based on electoral outcomes. For instance in the Philippines, candidates who have lost in any election in the country may not be appointed to cabinet positions within one (1) year of that election.[2]
The candidate prime minister and/or the president selects the individual ministers to be proposed to the parliament, which may accept or reject the proposed cabinet composition. Unlike in a presidential system, the cabinet in a parliamentary system must not only be confirmed, but enjoy the continuing confidence of the parliament: a parliament can pass a motion of no confidence to remove a government or individual ministers. Often, but not necessarily, these votes are taken across party lines.
In some countries (e.g. the US)
In multi-party systems, the formation of a government may require the support of multiple parties. Thus, a coalition government is formed. Continued cooperation between the participating political parties is necessary for the cabinet to retain the confidence of the parliament. For this, a government platform is negotiated, in order for the participating parties to toe the line and support their cabinet. However, this is not always successful: constituent parties of the coalition or members of parliament can still vote against the government, and the cabinet can break up from internal disagreement or be dismissed by a motion of no confidence.
The size of cabinets varies, although most contain around ten to twenty ministers. Researchers have found an inverse correlation between a country's level of development and cabinet size: on average, the more developed a country is, the smaller is its cabinet.[3]
Origins of cabinets
A council of advisors of a head of state has been a common feature of government throughout history and around the world. In
In the United Kingdom and its colonies, cabinets began as smaller sub-groups of the English Privy Council. The term comes from the name for a relatively small and private room used as a study or retreat. Phrases such as "cabinet counsel", meaning advice given in private to the monarch, occur from the late 16th century, and, given the non-standardized spelling of the day, it is often hard to distinguish whether "council" or "counsel" is meant.[12]
The Oxford English Dictionary credits Francis Bacon in his Essays (1605) with the first use of "Cabinet council", where it is described as a foreign habit, of which he disapproves: "For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet counsels; a remedy worse than the disease".[13]
Charles I began a formal "Cabinet Council" from his accession in 1625, as his Privy Council, or "private council", was evidently not private enough,[citation needed] and the first recorded use of "cabinet" by itself for such a body comes from 1644, and is again hostile and associates the term with dubious foreign practices.[12] The process has repeated itself in recent times, as leaders have felt the need to have a Kitchen Cabinet or "sofa government".[14]
Parliamentary cabinets
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Under the
In theory the
This position in relation to the executive power means that, in practice, any spreading of responsibility for the overall direction of the government has usually been done as a matter of preference by the prime minister – either because they are unpopular with their backbenchers, or because they believe that the cabinet should collectively decide things.
A
The Westminster cabinet system is the foundation of cabinets as they are known at the federal and provincial (or state) jurisdictions of Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and other Commonwealth of Nations countries whose parliamentary model is closely based on that of the United Kingdom.
Cabinet of the United States
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Under the doctrine of
They are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the head of government and are therefore strongly subordinate to the president as they can be replaced at any time. Normally, since they are appointed by the president, they are members of the same political party, but the executive is free to select anyone, including opposition party members, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
Normally, the legislature or a segment thereof must confirm the appointment of a cabinet member; this is but one of the many checks and balances built into a presidential system. The legislature may also remove a cabinet member through a usually difficult impeachment process.
In the Cabinet, members do not serve to influence legislative policy to the degree found in a Westminster system; however, each member wields significant influence in matters relating to their executive department. Since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the United States has acted most often through his own executive office or the National Security Council rather than through the Cabinet as was the case in earlier administrations.
Although the term Secretary is usually used to name the most senior official of a government department, some departments have different titles to name such officials. For instance, the Department of Justice uses the term Attorney General instead of Justice Secretary, but the attorney general is nonetheless a cabinet-level position.
Following the federal government's model, state executive branches are also organized into executive departments headed by cabinet secretaries. The government of California calls these departments "agencies" or informally "superagencies", while the government of Kentucky styles them as "cabinets".
Communist system
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See also
- Cabinet collective responsibility
- Council of Ministers
- Council of State
- Demissionary cabinet
- Individual ministerial responsibility
- Ministry
- National Cabinet (Australia)
- Privy council
- Royal court
- Rump cabinet
- War cabinet
References
- ^ Creighton, Mandell; Winsor, Justin; Gardiner, Samuel Rawson; Poole, Reginald Lane; Edwards, Sir John Goronwy (1923). The English Historical Review. Oxford University Press.
- ^ "THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES – ARTICLE IX". Official Gazette (Philippines). Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ScienceNews. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Alt URL
- ISBN 978-0-7656-8050-1. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-2999-2. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-19-993676-2. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-60608-371-0. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 0-8047-4816-0. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 0-520-06699-5. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-107-00134-3. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-415-51118-6. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary: Cabinet
- ^ Bacon, Essay "On Counsel"
- ^ UK | UK Politics | Clarke targets 'sofa-style' Blair. BBC News (2007-03-27). Retrieved on 2013-08-24.