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Technocratic Ministers and Political Leadership in European Democracies pp 111–137Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Primacy of Experts? Non-partisan Ministers in Portuguese Democracy

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership ((PSPL))

Abstract

Portuguese democracy is a relevant case for comparison, because expert and non-partisan ministers (usually described as ‘the independents’) are to be found in large numbers. This chapter investigates the determinants of this pattern of ministerial recruitment and, in assessing the main hypothesis postulated in the literature, operationalizes the analytical distinction between politicians and experts, establishing their number and evolution over time, and sketches a tentative profile of both ministerial types, highlighting and contrasting a few significant differences.

The composition of Portuguese democratic cabinets confirms the hypothesis that the semi-presidential regime and the prominence attributed to expert and non-partisan ministers are positively correlated. Also, it should be emphasized that their number has remained very high even after the significant reduction of presidential power. Their widespread presence, although in varied proportions, in different types of party governments (single-party and coalition, majority and minority), both from centre-left and centre-right, clearly indicates that their contribution is highly valued as a means of increasing both technical competence and political legitimacy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The PPD was renamed the Social Democratic Party (PSD, Partido Social Democrata) in 1976, while the CDS was renamed the Popular Party (PP, Partido Popular) in 1995. In both cases, however, the former abbreviation is coupled with the new one (PPD/PSD and CDS/PP).

  2. 2.

    In the 1980s a short-lived party created by the first elected president, General Ramalho Eanes, the Party of Democratic Renewal (PRD—Partido Renovador Democratico) emerged, but its presence was ephemeral.

  3. 3.

    Although not developed here, this feature was already present in the past authoritarian regime (1933–1974) with almost 50% of non-partisan ministers (Tavares de Almeida and Pinto 2003; Pinto 2009). We also need to stress that, unlike other countries, multi-level politics is not a relevant feature in pre-ministerial careers. In fact, only very few ministers with a political background had experience as mayors or local councillors (Tavares de Almeida and Pinto 2003; Tavares de Almeida 2010), and no former member of the regional legislatures and executives of Madeira and Azores have been appointed to the national government.

  4. 4.

    Interview with José Lamego, Lisbon, 9 March 2013

  5. 5.

    According to our data set, 55 ministers attended universities abroad, mainly on doctoral programmes: 63 percent are classified as experts and the remaining 37 percent as politicians.

  6. 6.

    Taking into account only those ministers with a law degree, the figures for politicians and experts are 73 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Science, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    António Costa Pinto

  2. Department of Political Studies, Nova University, Lisbon, Portugal

    Pedro Tavares de Almeida

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  1. António Costa Pinto
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  2. Pedro Tavares de Almeida
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    António Costa Pinto

  2. University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Maurizio Cotta

  3. NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Pedro Tavares de Almeida

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Costa Pinto, A., Tavares de Almeida, P. (2018). The Primacy of Experts? Non-partisan Ministers in Portuguese Democracy. In: Costa Pinto, A., Cotta, M., Tavares de Almeida, P. (eds) Technocratic Ministers and Political Leadership in European Democracies. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62313-9_5

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