ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the cabinet allocation strategies of Peruvian presidents from 1980 to 2016. Based on the analysis of more than five hundred ministerial appointments, it shows that weak presidents in Peru often appoint expert ministers without political affiliation rather than selecting members of other parties. In the years preceding the collapse of the party system, Belaúnde and García preferred a unilateral strategy and appointed a large number of ministers from their own parties. After the rise of Fujimori and the collapse of the party system, presidents favored a more cooperative strategy in order to reinforce presidential strength and obtain political support. Interestingly, however, heads of government did not recruit members of other political parties because this option was unviable in Peru, given the low discipline and low institutionalization of political parties, the fragmentation of the party system, and the popular disenchantment with the political class. Therefore, presidents in Peru resorted to an alternative cooperative strategy by appointing technocratic experts from the private sector in order to obtain the support of powerful organized economic interests.
