A cabinet reshuffle provides the prime minister with an opportunity to reallocate responsibilities within a government and to name, abolish or rename departments (or portfolios). The reshuffle is therefore not only about ‘change in leadership’ but also changes in the distribution of decision-making power among departmental heads. Hence, cabinet reshuffles are of crucial importance for the politics of government systems (Burns 2004).
The scope (or ‘how much’) of a reshuffle is the most important dimension, since larger recasting reshuffles, as opposed to smaller ones, tend to have greater impact on policy changes and the political dynamics of cabinet governance. This is because large-scale reshuffles are typically more disruptive to the functioning of government than smaller ones.
Excessive ministerial churn can harm the effectiveness of ministries by making it difficult for individual cabinet members to acquire the expertise necessary to effectively manage their department or hold their rivals accountable. This is particularly true for sectors that are heavily reliant on departmental guidance.
Moreover, frequent cabinet reshuffles may create the impression that the government is unstable or inefficient, potentially damaging its reputation among voters, party donors and other MPs. Finally, reshuffles of this type can backfire by empowering critical political rivals on the backbenches and thus freeing them to criticise the prime minister openly, undermining her authority.
A prime minister can proactively initiate and manage a reshuffle to achieve certain strategic goals, such as boosting the cabinet’s popularity score or pushing forward a legislative agenda. However, the accomplishment of these self-set goals is often uncertain (Muller and Meyer 2010).