Strategic Decisionmaking in Cabinet Government : Institutional Underpinnings and Obstacles

by Manning, Nick; Barma, Naazneen; Blondel, Jean; Pilichowski, Elsa; Wright, Vincent

• ISBN13: 9780821346273
• ISBN10: 082134627X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-12-01
• Publisher: World Bank

Summary

"Collective cabinet decisionmaking provides the institutional mechanism by which many governments prioritize their policies and guard against unpredictable policy reversals."- Mansood Ahmed, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, The World BankThe style and membership of cabinets vary in every country. The heads of democratic governments form a cabinet for three principal reasons:1. The threat that the legislature will significantly amend the government's program as expressed in the budget proposals made by the executive.2. The threat of dismissal between elections.3. The risk that the executive will be seen by the public as having departed from a previous tradition of cabinet government and judged poorly as a result.'Strategic Decisionmaking in Cabinet Government' shows that cabinet government is a rational response to these risks and sets out the institutional arrangements that make the cabinet a binding device. This report recognizes the significance of the budget process for collective decisionmaking, but moves beyond the simplistic assumption that tradeoffs in cabinet government can only be made by reallocating the budget. It supports practical approaches for assessing the strength of cabinet decisionmaking arrangements and for identifying practical steps to improve the prospect that decisions will be collectively binding.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Acknowledgments	vii
Abstract	ix
What Are Cabinets?	1	(7)
Cabinets and Councils of Ministers	1	(1)
Contours of Cabinet in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries	2	(2)
What Gets Discussed?	4	(1)
Variations on a Theme	5	(3)
How Do Cabinets Work?	8	(14)
When Is Government Cabinet-Like?	8	(1)
What Does Cabinet-Like Government Need to Make It Work?	9	(2)
The Cabinet Office	11	(11)
Where Does It Matter?	22	(6)
If Cabinet Is the Solution, What Is the Problem?	22	(3)
Cabinet Is a Popular Form of Government, and Pressures for Collective Decisionmaking Are Growing	25	(3)
Implications for Action	28	(11)
Credible Policy Drives Public Management	28	(1)
Improving Institutional Support for the Cabinet: A New Frontier of Institutional Reform	29	(1)
The Gambia---Cabinet and the Budget Cycle	29	(2)
Malawi---Cabinet and the Cabinet Office	31	(2)
Lithuania---Making New Rules Credible and Enforceable	33	(2)
Ukraine---Fundamental Questions About the Feasibility of Cabinet Government	35	(1)
Public Sector Reform in Tanzania, Zambia, and Albania	36	(3)
References	39