The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability

The relationships between ministers and their junior ministers have hardly been addressed in the literature, yet they are crucial to understanding government departmental dynamics. Using a principal agent framework, this article analyses 144 minister-junior minister relationships in three Portuguese...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pedro Silveira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-01-01
Series:Frontiers in Political Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2023.1320693/full
_version_ 1797356696556797952
author Pedro Silveira
author_facet Pedro Silveira
author_sort Pedro Silveira
collection DOAJ
description The relationships between ministers and their junior ministers have hardly been addressed in the literature, yet they are crucial to understanding government departmental dynamics. Using a principal agent framework, this article analyses 144 minister-junior minister relationships in three Portuguese governments (2005–2015), uncovering serious divergences (agency losses). The results were obtained through a qualitative approach, using many sources, including 111 interviews with former Portuguese prime ministers, ministers and junior ministers, content analysis, and one Minister's direct observation. It concludes that sharing the decisional power (shared leadership) improves accountability (promoting preference alignment and reducing asymmetric information), preventing and dealing effectively with divergences.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T14:31:16Z
format Article
id doaj.art-b204a52e366941fba4dee484fc931ccc
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2673-3145
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T14:31:16Z
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Political Science
spelling doaj.art-b204a52e366941fba4dee484fc931ccc2024-01-12T11:08:04ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Political Science2673-31452024-01-01510.3389/fpos.2023.13206931320693The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountabilityPedro SilveiraThe relationships between ministers and their junior ministers have hardly been addressed in the literature, yet they are crucial to understanding government departmental dynamics. Using a principal agent framework, this article analyses 144 minister-junior minister relationships in three Portuguese governments (2005–2015), uncovering serious divergences (agency losses). The results were obtained through a qualitative approach, using many sources, including 111 interviews with former Portuguese prime ministers, ministers and junior ministers, content analysis, and one Minister's direct observation. It concludes that sharing the decisional power (shared leadership) improves accountability (promoting preference alignment and reducing asymmetric information), preventing and dealing effectively with divergences.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2023.1320693/fullministerial departmentjunior ministersministerial delegationexecutive leadershipshared leadership
spellingShingle Pedro Silveira
The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
Frontiers in Political Science
ministerial department
junior ministers
ministerial delegation
executive leadership
shared leadership
title The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
title_full The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
title_fullStr The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
title_full_unstemmed The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
title_short The benefits of shared leadership on minister-junior minister delegation and accountability
title_sort benefits of shared leadership on minister junior minister delegation and accountability
topic ministerial department
junior ministers
ministerial delegation
executive leadership
shared leadership
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2023.1320693/full
work_keys_str_mv AT pedrosilveira thebenefitsofsharedleadershiponministerjuniorministerdelegationandaccountability
AT pedrosilveira benefitsofsharedleadershiponministerjuniorministerdelegationandaccountability