ABSTRACT
This chapter offers both insights into the process in Chile and a more general contribution regarding the key interplay between the formal and informal aspects of ministerial selection and de-selection in presidential systems. The 1980 constitution that governs Chile today was imposed in a plebiscite of questionable probity by the outgoing dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. In particular, three potential levels of coalitional incentives exist: electoral, legislative and cabinet. In order to understand the distribution of ministerial portfolios in presidential systems, in general, and the differences between historical periods in Chile, in particular, it is important to understand the interaction of these three levels. Generally there are two types of ministerial departures in Chile: reshuffles involving several ministers exiting the cabinet to send a political message or respond to a crisis or a particular individual moving on because of personal ambition, incompetence or involvement in some type of corruption scandal.
