Volatilité et stabilisation du personnel gouvernemental. Les cabinets roumains: 1919-1939 et 1989-2004
Volatility and Stabilization of Governmental Elites. A Comparison of the Romanian Cabinets: 1919-1939 and 1989-2004

Summary/Abstract: The political regime change which occurred in Romania elicited a process of the emergence of new political elites and the application of new patterns in the functioning of the political institutions. Therefore, the governmental instability that characterizes the post-communist period has often been perceived as an effect of the democratization process. Embracing a comparative stance (between the interwar and the post-communist cabinets), the article challenges the idea of a governmental exceptionalism after 1989. Focusing on different patterns of appointment and circulation of the ministerial actors, the paper emphasizes the existence of several elements of convergence with regard to the governmental instability and the volatility of personnel. The paper comprises four sections: after a brief analysis of different factors allowing the construction of a valid comparison between the interwar period and the post-communism, the second part scrutinizes the volatility of the ministerial actors. Thirdly, the paper examines the process of elites’ reproduction in executive portfolios and consequently the accumulation of executive experience. The last section of the article underlines the limits of this stabilization process, which is founded on a politics of elite reproduction in governmental offices.

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