ABSTRACT
Ministers are a rather special group within the larger body of the politicians. They are the politicians who have to carry the political responsibility for the specialized policy functions that relatively developed polities such as modern states are expected to perform. Because of this institutional role they are also very close (although the degree of this proximity may vary somewhat) to the centre of the game for power and its legitimate control. In the end they occupy a political space that is defined on the one hand by the functional requirements of the state at a given point in time, and on the other by the pressures of the dominant political power game of that period, and by the interest those involved in this game have in controlling the administrative apparatus of the state. Competence, effectiveness and specialization versus political legitimation and political loyalty are thus the competing criteria that are involved in the selection of ministers. Under different political regimes these two requirements may change in their specific contents, but not in their fundamental nature.
