ABSTRACT
Cabinet politics in nondemocracies remains slightly neglected, although new research has begun to explore cabinet politics in autocracies. This chapter develops a model of cabinet change that is applicable to all forms of political systems, democracies and nondemocracies, presidential and parliamentary systems, as well as systems with different party organizations and specific types of autocracies. The effective government policy position reflects internal cabinet bargains. Policy and policy discord also influence internal party competition and so affect turnover of cabinet members. The election procedure within the party affects the party's retention decision, and therefore the leader's decision to dismiss a cabinet member. Party election procedures affect leader retention and cabinet change. In India, both Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi manipulated the tenure of their cabinet ministers in order to achieve government stability and control over their parties. Parliamentarianism improves prime ministerial quality but at the cost of lowering cabinet quality.
