ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the available datasets on cabinet ministers and explains in detail the database of foreign ministers. Most cabinets are built around five basic functions of government, Interior, Defense, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Justice. Clearly, a full empirical analysis of cabinet politics requires data on all cabinet positions for all countries for a long period or time. In the absence of such data, empirical studies of cabinet change have concentrated on a set of executive offices and ministries, or a geographical region or country, over a limited period of time. For Pakistan, Mufti (2015) presents innovative data covering ministerial careers from 1973 to 2013. The data and her analysis are based on interviews that present a fascinating picture of cabinet politics in a political system that has oscillated from parliamentary democracy to autocracy.
