ABSTRACT
The appointment of non-partisan ministers has been equated as a symptom of the waning of the party government, a pattern particularly noticeable in newer, Southern European crisis-prone democracies. Systematic empirical evidence on the impact of the eurozone crisis is, however, still required. This chapter seeks to characterize patterns of ministerial recruitment in Portugal before, during and after the 2011–2013 eurozone crisis. Using data on ministerial profiles from 1999 to 2022, the chapter demonstrates how parties in government face strong incentives to maintain control over the selection of ministers. The pivotal role of parties is clearly visible in the recruitment of partisan ministers that tends to revolve around individuals coming from the national structures of the governing parties and who occupy core ministerial positions in government. Moreover, ministers with no party affiliation tend to gravitate towards the orbit of a particular party, further reinforcing the salience of a partisan aura. Finally, while non-partisanship may be a remarkable feature of Portuguese governments, it was not salient during the eurozone crisis period, being instead concentrated around critical portfolios for external credibility and technical negotiations with external officials.
