A comparative study of ministerial careers in France and Mexico,

Transcription

1 A comparative study of ministerial careers in France and Mexico, Daniel Carrasco Brihuega C.I.D.SP Centre d Informatisation de Données Socio-Politiques. Institut d Etudes Politiques Grenoble carrasco@cidsp.upmf-grenoble.fr Paper to be presented at the 29 th joint session of the European Consortium for Political Research, 6-11 April 2001, Grenoble, France. Workshop "Political Careers in a Multilevel Europe".

2 Daniel Carrasco Brihuega A comparative study of ministerial careers in France and Mexico I Introduction : Ministers in France and Mexico In France as in Mexico, ministers are at the heart of national political life. As members of government and representatives of the executive power, they belong to a restricted team of persons at the centre of the government system. The constituency of this ministerial team and the selection/election of ministers, is determined by certain varying criteria that depend on the political institutions of each country. Mexican and French ministers, as ministers of all governments, are responsible for problem solving related to their sector of competence which affects the population. They are thus placed at the head of a ministry and are subordinate to a certain power of authority belonging to the chief executive of the government body or to the President of the Republic. In France, the appointment of ministers normally results from a decree which determines the composition of government arrangements : with the proposal of the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic proceeds with the appointment of ministers and can also put an end to their ministerial functions. In both cases, the 1

3 presidential decree must be co-signed ; the decree consists of a simple order signed by the president of the Republic and co-signed by the Prime Minister 2. In Mexico however, the President has the option of naming ministers 3 without having to consult other persons or ministers. During the sextennat, the appointment of ministers in Mexico, is the responsibility of the President who, as head of state and chief of the government, has the power both to name these ministers as well as to modify the composition of the gouvernment. In France, given the two-headed nature of the executive power, the governmental body or the cabinet arrangement answers as much to the will of the President, head of State as to the proposal of the Prime Minister, chief of the government. The appointment of French ministers is also subject to parliamentary constraint since in the French constitutional tradition, the Parliament empowers the government body and can also sanction the procedure during legislation. The ministers in France and Mexico, as political elites, possess certain group characteristics such as organisation, homogenisation, and the renewal of ministerial positions, which allows them access to the governmental team or cabinet. In this sense, it is essential to fulfil certain expectations before hoping to become minister in either of these two countries. 1 This paper is based on the partial results of my investigation of PhD in political science within the subject "Les carrières ministérielles en France et au Mexique, une étude comparée ", ("A comparative study of ministerial carrers in France and Mexico, ". 2 CHAGNOLLAUD, D. et QUERMONNE, J. L. La Ve République, le pouvoir exécutif et l'administration. Champs-Flammarion, 2000, p Article 89, Section III Las facultadses y obligaciones del presidente. Constitucion politica de México. 2

4 The aim of this work is to demonstrate how ministerial careers function in France and Mexico, and to explain why they take a specific form as well as a description of the respective forming processes of these governmental teams. Emphasis will therefore be placed on the development strategies during recruitment of governing elites. Our study is based on the two respective presidential periods during the 1980 s. In France this concerns the first government appointment of François Mitterrand from May 1981 to May In Mexico the study focuses on the presidency of Miguel De la Madrid, from December 1982 to December During this study period, the two countries developed different experiences of governmental functioning. First we see that, given the duration of government life of each of the two countries, the number of prospective ministers to the " ministerial throne" is much larger in France than in Mexico. To illustrate this clearly, it should be noted that in the first seven years of Mitterrand s appointment, France held four governments starting with that of Mauroy (1981), and ending with the termination of the Chirac gouvernment (1988). French governments have an average life span of approximately two years, whereas for Mexico the same time periode was governed only by the De la Madrid government ( ). List of governments. France -Pierre Mauroy I, ( ), Pierre Mauroy II ( ), Laurent Fabius, ( ), Jacques Chirac, ( ). Mexico -Miguel De la Madrid, ( ). 3

5 Because of the difference in the number of governments, our sample size consists of ninety eight people in France and twenty eight in Mexico. By using some political and social indicators for each of these ministers, such as : gender, the age of access to the government, the family origin, the political affiliation, the birth place, the university attended and the diploma received, as well as held positions 4, we will see in the general characteristics of these two governments. It is important to note that these indicators alone are not sufficient to make us appreciate on one hand, the precise evolution of the ministers progress or on the other, to accurately describe the evolution of each government. They allow us however, to have a global vision of the constituency of the totality of these ministers so as to draw up a comparison base between France and Mexico. 1. The "sex" variable. This variable reveals the level of under-representation of women within the government in the recruitment process for ministerial personnel. We ascertain that possibilities for female access to ministerial positions are reduced in these two countries. Nevertheless, it seems that women in France have more opportunities to hold a position in the government than the Mexican women, since 11 of 98 French ministers were women, versus one out of the twenty eight ministers in Mexico. 4 This information for France was obtained from : Who s-who? en France, 1999 and Le monde. In the case of Mexico from : Diccionario Biografico del gobierno mexicano Fondo de Cultura Económica, Proceso and Gobiernos y partidos en América Latina, un estudio comparado directed by CANSINO, César. CEPCOM. Mexico,

6 Sex # of ministers Mexico Country % # of ministers France Male Female % 2. The age of access to the government. The age analysis of the French and Mexican ministers indicates a significant difference in the arrangement of these governments. The following list informs us on the age of access to the government. Age of access to governement Mexico country France # of ministers % # of minister % ,9 6 6, , , , , , ,5 51 years and over 2 7, ,6 From this chart, we can ascertain that the Mexican government has been composed of ministers younger than in the French government, given that 12 Mexican ministers out of 28 were between 30 and 35 years old versus 6 ministers out of 98 in France. The young age of Mexican ministers is specific to the year 1982, which indicates that 5

7 nearly half of the government members at this time were at the beginning of their career. This difference in ages groups can be explained by the technocratic effect which the Mexican political system has suffered from since 1982, symbolised by Miguel De la Madrid. Graduate of Harvard university, he occupied several high positions in the ministry of finance, he was entrusted with the «National Development Plan», and was the only minister to receive total confidence from the former president to be the candidate to the presidency of the PRI, (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), Institutional Party Revolution. His election to presidency was his first time in an elective position. In France, 31 ministers of 98 were 51 years old or more, versus only 2 out of 28 Mexican ministers. This difference is very significant since it shows us that the route to becoming a minister is much longer in France than in Mexico, and involves consequently the occupations of other posts before entering the ministerial sphere. 3. The social origin. Another characteristic that can help us to identify the profile of ministers in the two countries being studied is that of social origin. We note that most Mexican and French ministers come from a high social class rather than from the middle or working class. In Mexico for example, 64% of the ministers parents were senior executives or intellectuals versus only 41% in France. In fact, the social origins of ministers is more elitist in Mexico than in France, which can be explained by the 6

8 facility of access to higher education in France, as well as the more noticeable inequality amongst Mexican youths. Parental occupation Country Mexico France # of ministers % # of ministers % N/A ,2 Craftsmen and small 4 14,3 1 1,0 business owners Senior manager and 18 64, ,8 superior professions Intermediary professions ,3 Employees 3 10, ,3 Working class 2 7,1 8 8,2 Political class 1 3,6 8 8,2 Total The birth place. The comparative study of French and Mexican ministers birth places represents one of the most important sociological indicators for these two governing bodies. From this indicator, we can deduce the level of accession to education and to social and political clubs to which ministers normally belong. For example, 12 out of 28 Mexican ministers were born in Mexico city, 6 out of 28 were born in the central region, 4 in the southern region and 6 were born in the gulf and northern regions of Mexico. 7

9 The birth place of French ministers reflects the importance of the regions of this country. For example, one ascertains that 4 of 98 French ministers are born in the south-east region, 21 in the region of the Ile of France, 18 ministers in the North-east region, 16 in North-west and 11 in the south-west region. What is also very particular is that 8 of 98 French ministers were born abroad, while no Mexican minister is born outside of Mexico. Mexico is a federal State, but the ministers are often from Mexico city or the central region. While paradoxically in a centralised country such as France, ministers come from all regions of the territory. In Mexico however, the president makes a selection based on trustworthiness. The president does not select essentially people from Mexico city, but from where he himself is from. Birthplace France Mexico Region Total number Region Total number Ile de France 21 Mexico city 12 North-west 16 Center 6 North-east 18 Gulf 3 South-east 24 North 3 South-west 11 Pacific south 4 Foreigner 8 Foreigner 0 TOTAL

10 5. The universities. In the two countries, one can ascertain a phenomenon of concentration of academic training in two cities, Paris and Mexico ; 66 of 98 French ministers studied in Parisian universities, while in Mexico 24 of 28 ministers studied in universities of Mexico city. 15 French ministers obtained their diplomas in universities in the provinces and 8 ministers have studied abroad. For its share, Mexico shows 2 ministers having obtained their university diplomas abroad and 2 ministers having military training. Universities Mexico France Location of University Number % University Number % Mexico 24 85,7 Paris 65 66,3 Military 2 7,1 Province 15 15,3 Foreigner 2 7,1 Foreigner 8,2 8,2 N/A 0 0 N/A 10 10,2 6. Diplomas. The respective professional training will allow us to see from what professional horizons the members of these two governments derive. The following list show us that in France, professionals with a political science or a law background are more common than all other types of education, and number 27 ministers each. 9

11 Other science diplomas take second place with 28 ministers, 8 hold diplomas in medicine. There is no available information concerning the 8 remaining ministers. While analysing the data on members of the Mexican government, we note that the law graduates take first place with 12 ministers. Second come graduates of economics with 6 ministers, while 10 ministers have received other types of education such as engineering or business administration. Diploma France Mexico Law 27 Law 12 Political science 27 Economics 6 other 28 other 10 Medicine 8 N/A Not Available 8 7. The political affiliation Political party Country Mexico France PRI 28 PS 43 RPR 18 UDF 17 (divers leftists ) 20 10

12 With regards to the political affiliation, we can ascertain that all members of the De la Madrid government belonged to the PRI. More interestingly, is the analysis of the date of Mexican ministers adherence to this party. Even if we do not have the date of adherence of the totality of ministers to the PRI we can observe that out of 15 ministers, 6 adhered to the party before engaging in governmental bureaucracy, 3 adhered at the moment of entry, and only 6 after their admission to the governmental bureaucracy 5. For its share, the political affiliation of French ministers is divided in to four main political forces; 43 of 98 French ministers belong to the Socialist Party (PS), 18 of 98 to the (RPR) Rassemblement Pour la République and 17 belong to the (UDF), Union Démocratique Française. This arrangement of ministers in France is understood as a function of the French political system and the political situation of the period between 1981 and 1986, where three leftist governments succeeded each other and where the socialists were the largest in number. Some radicals from the left or divers left and some communists, seconded the government of '81 to '84 and as such, no minister from the right was involved in either of these 3 governments. On the other hand, the left having lost the parliamentary elections of 1986, puts the fifth Republic for the first time in a situation of co-habitation : the presidents of the left appoint Jacques Chirac as prime minister, the leader of the parliamentary right and the only political man able to find a majority in Parliament. It is he that wants to see ministers from the right elected. The minister Chirac is balanced between the two parties 11

13 composing the majority. On the whole, the situation registered by our study is symptomatic of partisan dualism and the bipolarization that characterises France, compared to the Mexican situation where one party monopolises the control of power for a very long time. 8. Position held before becoming minister. Position held before becoming minister France Number % Mexico Number % Elective post 80 81,6 Elective post 1 3,6 Non-elective 18 18,4 Non-elective 27 96,4 post post Total Total The admission to the government in France as in Mexico answers to multiple circumstances respective to each political system. The position held before becoming minister, for example, allows us to know the general path that both the French and the Mexican government members took, which then allows us to identify the main approaches to entry into ministerial functions. The following list shows us that during the first government of François Mitterrand, 82 French ministers held an elective post before entry to the government, while in 5 This information was obtained by AMPARO CASAR, Ma. Las relaciones gobierno partido en México, in Cansino César, op.cit. p.62 12

14 Mexico almost the entirety of ministers occupied non-elective posts, since only 1 minister of 28 was a member of parliament. Our survey shows that in France the elective post is essential to access to the government where ministers have to pass an electoral test. In Mexico, however, it seems that access to the government is done in a bureaucratic way, given that most ministers had held positions as director or under-secretary of State in one of the cabinets of the preceding government. 9. Position held after having been minister We have ascertained that the professional future of ministers in France and Mexico is also very different. In France, ministers generally occupy an elective post after having been the head of a ministry. For example, 87 ministers out of 98, shifted to some sort of delegation, mayor or councillor, and only 11 ministers out of 98 did not occupy an elective position. In Mexico, the future of ministers is different, given that 19 ministers out of 28, disappeared from the political scene, and 5 ministers out of 28, became once again a member of the government and 2 ministers shifted to diplomatic positions. Finally, and contrary to the French ministers future, only 2 ministers out of 28 have occupied elective posts. 13

15 Position held after having be minister France Number % Mexico Number % Elective post 87 88,8 Elective post 2 92,9 Non-elective 11 11,2 Non-elective post 26 7,1 Total Total Conclusion This paper intended to show why the ministerial careers in these two countries take specific forms. We noted that in a presidential system as that of Mexico, ministers are collaborators of the President. They are young and occupy top posts in governmental bureaucracy before becoming ministers and they belong to only one political party. Thus, we can conclude that ministers in Mexico are those that have generated the necessary confidence from the President during their passage along the bureaucracy In France ministers are named jointly by the President and the Prime Minister according to the balance of the Parliamentary majority, a French minister is almost obliged to pass through Parliament before taking the head of a ministry and they are not as young as the Mexican ministers. Finally ministerial careers are interrupted by the electoral process. We can conclude therefore that ministers originate from the Parliament. 14