Cabinet
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- This article discusses the governmental body, for other meanings see cabinet (disambiguation)
A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers or the Executive Council.
In some countries, particularly those under Westminster system, the cabinet collectively decides the government's policy and tactical direction, especially in regard to legislation passed by the parliament. In countries with a presidential system, such as the United States, the cabinet does not function as a collective legislative influence; rather, their primary role is as an unofficial advisory council to the head of government, consisting of the heads of the executive departments they are appointed to lead. In some countries, cabinets are required to be appointed from sitting members of the legislature while in others, such as the United States, cabinet members may not be sitting legislators; they must resign their legislative office if they accept a cabinet appointment.
In most governments, members of the cabinet are given the title of minister, and each hold a different portfolio of government duties ("Minister for the Environment", etc). In a few governments, the title of secretary is also used for some cabinet members ("Secretary of Education", etc). The day-to-day role of most cabinet members is to serve as the head of one segment of the national bureaucracy, as the head civil servant to which all other employees in that department report.
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Westminster cabinets
Under the Westminster system members of the cabinet are collectively seen as responsible for government policy. The ranks of the ministers may be divided into tiers, with some (senior ministers) being members of cabinet (or an "Inner Cabinet"), while others only invited to cabinet meetings to discuss issues relevant to their portfolios. A third category, parliamentary secretaries, similar in function to an assistant minister minister/premier. A reallocation of these portfolios is a cabinet reshuffle. In theory the prime minister/premier is first among equals but in practice the power to expel ministers from the Cabinet and determine their portfolios means that the Prime Minister has a high degree of control over cabinet.
Cabinet deliberations are secret and documents dealt with in cabinet are confidential. Most of the documentation associated with Cabinet deliberations will only be publicly released a considerable period after the particular cabinet disbands; for example, thirty years after they were discussed.
The Shadow Cabinet, are the leading members, or frontbenchers, of an opposition party, who generally hold critic portfolios "shadowing" cabinet ministers, questioning their decisions and proposing policy alternatives.
The Westminster cabinet system is the foundation of cabinets as they are known at the federal and state (or provincial) levels of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth of Nations countries whose parliamentary model was closely based on that of Britain.
Presidential cabinets
Under the doctrine of separation of powers, a cabinet under a presidential system of government does not function as a policy-making branch of the legislature. In this system, cabinet members are not legislators; they carry out legislative actions rather than make them. In addition to administering his or her segment of the executive branch, a cabinet member is responsible for advising the head of government on areas within his or her purview. They are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the head of government; they are strongly subordinate to the executive and can be replaced at any time. Normally, since they are appointed by the executive, they are members of the same political party, but the executive is free to select anyone, including opposition party members; the current (as of 2006) United States Secretary of Transportation is of the opposing party of the president who appointed him.
Normally, the legislature or a segment thereof must confirm the appointment of a cabinet member; this is one of the many checks and balances built into a presidential system. The legislature may also remove a cabinet member through a usually-difficult impeachment process.
In the most famous example of a presidential system cabinet, the United States Cabinet, cabinet members do not serve to influence legislative policy to the degree found in a Westminster system; however, each member wields significant influence in matters relating to their executive department. Since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, the President of the United States has acted most often through his own executive offices or the National Security Council rather than through the cabinet as was the case in earlier U.S history.
Origins of cabinets
Historically, cabinets are the successors of Privy Councils. The notion of the modern cabinet is credited to the reign of George I and George II; both of whom made use of such a system, as both were non-native English speakers, unfamiliar with British politics, and thus relied heavily on groups of advisors.
European Union
In some European countries and in the institutions of the European Union, a cabinet (pronounced as in French, i.e. IPA Template:IPA) carries a different meaning; it refers to the private office of advisors and assistants working directly for a minister or senior executive.
See also
- List of cabinets of national governments
- Ministerial responsibility
- Cabinet collective responsibility
- Cabinet governmentde:Kabinett
es:Consejo de Ministros fi:Hallitus id:Kabinet (pemerintahan) ja:内閣 no:Kabinett pl:Rada Ministrów sv:Ministär