ABSTRACT
Most discussion of the role and relationships of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister have been conducted within the confines of an argument over whether prime ministerial government (and more recently presidentialism) has replaced Cabinet government. This chapter will outline this discussion, highlighting that it is essentially flawed because it is both irresolvable and fails to understand the operation of the core executive. The chapter will suggest that in order to understand how the Prime Minister and Cabinet work we have to recognise that both have resources and therefore are dependent on each other. Consequently, the operation of the core executive is not about competition between the core and the centre, but about structures of dependence which both enable and constrain the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers. The chapter will begin by outlining the traditional debate and its problems. It will then describe an alternative way of examining the Prime Minister and Cabinet and review the implications that this model has for understanding the role of the Prime Minister.
