Cabinet (government)

I

Introduction

Cabinet (government), name applied to the collective body of advisers to the executive head of a parliamentary government. The composition and functions of the cabinet vary in different countries.

The cabinet originated early in the 15th century as a council advising the king of England. As part of the Privy Council, the king’s most important group of advisers, it met in the royal chamber or cabinet and was therefore called the cabinet council. At first this group had no special authority or legal standing; it was comparable to what was later known as a cabal or junta. In the 18th century, however, when the center of governmental power shifted from monarch to the British Parliament, the Cabinet became the council of the most important minister in the government, the prime minister. Since about 1780 the composition of the British Cabinet has been restricted to a limited number of important ministers, who are (with few exceptions) also department heads. From this organization developed the modern British Cabinet, with the prime minister at the head, collectively responsible to Parliament.

In the United States the Cabinet consists of the president’s advisers, each of whom is a department head. The legal status of the Cabinet is not defined except in federal statutes concerning the salaries and the method of appointing members.

Other parliamentary governments have adopted the cabinet as an institution. The cabinets of Latin America usually follow the U.S. type, whereas most European countries have adopted the British model.

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II

European Cabinets

The principal characteristics of European cabinets are the responsibility of the cabinet to the legislature, and the identification of the cabinet with the government. The cabinet is formed by the prime minister or premier, and together they administer the country as long as they have the confidence of the legislature. If a cabinet lacks either legislative or popular support, the government is said to fall, and the executive must form a new cabinet capable of winning the required support.

Cabinets are usually composed of ministers, most of whom are department chiefs, but ministers are not necessarily cabinet members. Specific ministries are sometimes designated “of cabinet rank.” Important individuals may be added to the cabinet without specific portfolio, that is, without ministerial responsibility. In emergencies special inner cabinets may be formed from the regular cabinet.

A cabinet of the British type typically comprises members of the party that has a decisive majority in the legislature. When no clear-cut majority exists, cabinets are sometimes formed by parties that together control a majority in the parliament. The prime minister charged with forming such a cabinet usually attempts to assign the posts in accordance with the proportional parliamentary strength of the groups composing the coalition. Inasmuch as this proportion tends to fluctuate, coalition cabinets are frequently unstable. Since World War II (1939-1945), many European governments have been administered by coalition cabinets.

III

British Cabinet

Members of the Cabinet of the British government constitute the supreme executive authority of the government, and are the sole advisers to the crown. They are members of Parliament, usually of the same political party as the prime minister, and thus combine executive and legislative duties. Members of the Cabinet are individually responsible to the prime minister who appoints them, with approval of the crown. The prime minister also may remove any of them. Collectively the Cabinet is responsible to Parliament for its policies and actions.

The number of members of the British Cabinet varies. The tendency is for the number to increase in normal times with the growth of governmental functions and to decrease in national emergencies when the executive power is concentrated in fewer hands. The Cabinet meets at 10 Downing Street in London, in the house that the British statesman Robert Walpole presented to the nation. This house is the official residence of the prime ministers of Great Britain.

IV

Canadian Cabinet

The Cabinet in Canada is of the British type. It is formed, on the request of the governor-general, by a prime minister who is a member of the House of Commons and usually the leader of the strongest party in the house. Normally, a Cabinet is formed as the result of a general election, but if a Cabinet resigns, the governor-general may ask the opposition leader in the House of Commons to form a government from the opposition.The prime minister chooses Cabinet ministers from members of the Canadian Parliament, largely from the House of Commons. Most ministers serve as heads of the executive departments of the federal government. Provincial cabinets are similarly formed and organized.

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