Cabinet politics in Africa

Picture via Wikimedia Commons: From Left to right. Tsehafi Taezaz (Minister of the Pen) Wolde Giorgis Wolde Yohannes, Foreign Minister (later Prime Minister and Tsehafi Taezaz) Aklilu Haptewold, H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Lt. General Abiye Abebe (husband of the late Princess Tsehai Haile Selassie), H.I.H. Prince Sahle Selassie.

Cabinet politics in Africa is often portrayed as a strategic power-struggle between rulers and elites. This project provides the first comprehensive analysis of how African rulers approach cabinet politics and how their strategies of elite management influence their survival in office. For the empirical analysis I compiled a database of cabinet politics in Africa. It contains information on the appointment, dismissal, and rearrangement of ministers, along with minister’s time in office and the size of the cabinet for more than 200 rulers that governed in 40 African states covering the time period from independence of each state until 2020.