Post-ministerial private careers in Ecuador (2000-2017): is there life after the cabinet?

Authors

Abstract

 The link between politics and the private sector is a constant subject of speculation. It is common to hear that being part of the ministerial cabinet immediately translates to starting a new life in the private sector. Therefore, this research provides information about the frequency of the post-ministerial private careers in Ecuador and determines if the individual resources impact in their development. The empirical implications are tested with an original dataset of 230 Ecuadorian ministers (2000-2017). The results show that 67% ministers circulate towards the private sector, and 50% of ministers move towards a business position. Statistic models show that individual resources such as tenure in office, affiliation with the party of the president, or being a lawyer explain this type of ministerial behavior. In addition, experience in the business field and gender influence the probability of starting a life outside the ministerial cabinet.

Keywords:

ministers , cabinets, post-careers, Ecuador, private sector

References

Adolph, C. (2013). Bankers, Bureaucrats, and Central Bank Politics: The Myth of Neutrality. Cambridge University Press.

Albala, A., Clerici, P., y Olivares, A. (2023). Determinants of the cabinet size in presidential systems. Governance, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12803

Alcántara, M. (2012). El oficio del político. Editorial Tecnos.

Altman, D. (2008). Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Chile, 1990 to 2006: The Executive Branch. En P. Siavelis y S. Morgenstern (Eds.), Pathways to Power. Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Latin America (pp. 241–270). Pennsylvania State University Press.

Armijos, M., Camino, S., Pesantes, A., y Zambrano, M. (2020). Perspectivas de género en los cargos directivos de las empresas ecuatorianas 2013-2018. ESAI, IPSOS, OPEV, SUPERCIAS.

Barragán, M. (2016). La salida de la política. Iberoamericana: América Latina; España; Portugal, 63(3), 227–231. https://doi.org/10.18441/ibam.16.2016.63.227-231

Barragán, M., y Benito, A. (2022, mayo 15). Mandatos interrumpidos, ¿Carreras frustradas?

Basabe, S., Polga-Hecimovich, J., y Mejía-Acosta, A. (2018). Unilateral, against all odds: Portfolio allocation in Ecuador (1979–2015. En M. Camerlo y M. Martínez-Gallardo (Eds.), Government Formation and Minister Turnover in Presidential Cabinets: Comparative Analysis in the Americas (pp. 182–206). Routledge.

Basabe, S., Ulloa, C., Polga-Hecimovich, J., y Mejía-Acosta, A. (2019). PresCab_BASIC_Ecuador—Presidential Cabinets Project [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WZZQJE

Baturo, A., y Arlow, J. (2018). Is there a ‘revolving door’ to the private sector in Irish politics? Irish Political Studies, 33(3), 381–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/07907184.2017.1365709

Blondel, J. (1991). The Post-Ministerial Careers. En J. Blondel y J. Thiébault (Eds.), The Profession of Government Minister in Western Europe (pp. 153–173). Palgrave Macmillan.

Borchert, J. (2003). Professional Politicians: Towards a Comparative Perspective. En E. J. Borchert y J. Zeiss (Eds.), The Political Class in Advanced Democracies: A Comparative Handbook (pp. 1–25). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199260362.001.0001.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. En J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.

Bucur, C. (2020). Presidents and Cabinet Payoffs in Coalition Governments. Political Studies Review, 18(1), 30–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929919856875

Camerlo, M., y Martínez-Gallardo, C. (2018). Government Formation and Minister Turnover in Presidential Cabinets: Comparative Analysis in the Americas. Routledge.

Camerlo, M., y Martínez-Gallardo, C. (2022). ¿Por qué son importantes los ministerios importantes? Un marco de análisis. Política y Gobierno, 29(1), 1–19. http://www.politicaygobierno.cide.edu/index.php/pyg/article/view/1561

Castellani, A. (2018). Lobbies y puertas giratorias: Los riesgos de la captura de la decisión pública. Nueva Sociedad, 276, 48–61.

Castellani, A., y Dulitzky, A. (2018). The Reverse Revolving Door: Participation of Economic Elites in the Public Sector during the 1990s in Argentina. Latin American Business Review, 19(2), 131–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10978526.2018.1479641

Castellano, J. (2017). Estudio sobre las puertas giratorias en la administración general del Estado y el papel de la oficina de conflictos de intereses. Fundación Hay Derecho.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2022). Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments [Data set]. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/world-leaders-1/

Cingano, F., y Pinotti, P. (2009). Politicians at work: The private returns and social costs of political connections. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11(2), 433–465. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24538799

Claessen, C., Bailer, S., y Turner-Zwinkels, T. (2021). The winners of legislative mandate: An analysis of post-parliamentary career positions in Germany and the Netherlands. European Journal of Political Research, 60(1), 25–45. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12385

Claveria, S., y Verge, T. (2015). Post-Ministerial Occupation in Advanced Industrial Democracies: Ambition, Individual Resources and Institutional Opportunity Structures. European Journal of Political Research, 54(4), 819–835. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12107

Coba, G. (2020). Tres de cada 10 presidentes de empresas en Ecuador son mujeres. Primícias.

https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/economia/presidentes-empresas-ecuador-mujeres-estudio/

Cohen, J. E. (1986). The dynamics of the Revolving Door on the FCC. American Journal of Political Science, 30(4), 689–708. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111268

Collier, D., y Levitsky, S. (2009). Democracy. Conceptual hierarchies in comparative research. En D. Collier y J. Gerring (Eds.), Concepts and Method in Social Science. The Tradition of Giovanni Sartori (pp. 269–288). Routledge.

Dörrenbächer, N. (2016). Patterns of post-cabinet careers: When one door closes another door opens? Acta Política, 51(4), 472–491.

Durand, F. (2019). Captura del Estado en América Latina. Reflexiones teóricas. Fondo Editorial de la PUCP.

Escobar-Lemmon, M., y Taylor-Robinson, M. (2016). Women in Presidential Cabinets Power Players or Abundant Tokend? Oxford University Press.

Gerring, J. (2006). Case study research: Principles and practices. Cambridge University Press.

González-Bustamante, B., y Garrido-Vergara, L. (2018). Socialización, trayectorias y poscarrera de ministros en Chile, 1990-2010. Política y Gobierno, 25(1), 31–64. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=60353523002

Jaffé, M., Rudert, S., y Greifeneder, R. (2019). You should go for diversity, but I’d rather stay with similar others: Social distance modulates the preference for diversity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85.

Joignant, A. (2012). Habitus, campo y capital. Elementos para una teoría general del capital político. Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 74(4), 587–618. https://doi.org/10.22201/iis.01882503p.2012.4.34445

Jones, M., Saiegh, S., Spiller, T., y Tommasi, M. (2002). Amateur Legislators-Professional Politicians: The Consequences of Party-Centered Electoral Rules in a Federal System. American Journal of Political Science, 46(3), 656–669. https://doi.org/10.2307/3088406

Maillet, A., González-Bustamante, B., y Olivares, A. (2019). Public-Private Circulation and the Revolving Door in the Chilean Executive Branch (2000–2014). Latin American Business Review, 20(4), 367–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/10978526.2019.1652099

Maillet, A., González-Bustamante, B., y Olivares, A. (2016). ¿Puerta giratoria? Análisis de la circulación público-privada en Chile (2000-2014). Serie Documentos de Trabajo PNUD-Desigualdad No2016/07.

Martínez-Gallardo, C. (2014). Designing Cabinets: Presidential Politics and Ministerial Instability. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 6(2), 3–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X1400600201

Mazzuca, S., y Munck, G. (2021). A Middle-Quality Institutional Trap: Democracy and State Capacity in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

Müller-Rommel, F., Kroeber, C., y Vercesi, M. (2020). Political careers of ministers and prime minister. En E. R. Andeweg, R. Elgie, L. Helms, J. Kaarbo, y F. Müller-Rommel (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives (pp. 229–250). Oxford University Press.

Musella, F. (2020). Post-Executive Activities. En R. Andeweg, R. Elgie, L. Helms, J. Kaarbo, y F. Müller-Rommel (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives (pp. 336–358). Oxford University Press.

Nicholls, K. (1991). The Dynamics of National Executive Service: Ambition Theory and the Careers of Presidential Cabinet Members. Political Research Quarterly, 44(11), 149–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591299104400109

O’Brien, D. Z., y Reyes-Housholder, C. (2020). Women and Executive Politics. En R. Andeweg, R. Elgie, L. Helms, J. Kaarbo, y F. Müller-Rommel (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Executive (pp. 251–272). Oxford University Press.

Olivares, A. (2022). Survival of Ministers and Configuration of Cabinets in Chile and Uruguay. Springer.

Palanza, V. (2018). Checking Presidential Power: Executive Decrees and the Legislative Process in New Democracies. Cambridge University Press.

Paxton, P., Hughes, M., y Barnes, T. (2021). Women, Politics, and Power. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Przeworski, A. (2010). Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government. Cambridge University Press.

Rhode, D., y Packel, A. (2014). Diversity on corporate boards: How much difference does difference make. Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, 39, 377–426.

Samuels, D. (2003). Ambition, Federalism, and Legislative Politics in Brazil. Cambridge University Press.

Sánchez, F., y Polga-Hecimovich, J. (2019). Tools of Institutional Change under Post- Neoliberalism: Rafael Correa’s Ecuador. Journal of Latin American Studies, 51(2), 379–408. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X1800072X

Schlesinger, J. (1966). Ambition and Politics: Political Careers in the United States. Rand McNally and Company.

Schneider, B. R. (2013). Hierarchical Capitalism in Latin America. Cambridge University Press.

Transparencia Internacional. (2010). Reglamentar el fenómeno de las puertas giratorias. Transparencia Internacional.

Weber, M. (1993). El político y el científico. Alianza Editorial.

Wooldridge, J. (2013). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach. Cengage Learning.

Würfel, M. (2017). Life After the Bundestag: An Analysis of the Post-Parliamentary Careers of German MPs. German Politics, 27(3), 295–316.

Xifra, J. (2023). Puerta giratoria de salida en la Argentina. Estado Abierto. Revista sobre el Estado, la administración y las políticas públicas, 7(2), 87–106.