The ministers of the Concertacion de Partidos por la Democracia in Chile. An analysis of their political, social and cultural capital

In this article we analyze the political trajectories of 106 former ministers (of a total of 143) who held office during the governments of the Concertacion de Partidos por la Democracia between 1990 and 2010. Based on a survey applied to this total, we first measured the political, social and cultural capital of each individual, then calculated each capital's effect on the probability of individuals becoming a minister of a political, a social or an economic Ministry. Different from other recent studies of the Chilean elite that emphasize its socialization and sociological features, here we constructed separate indices of political capital, social capital and cultural capital to measure and explain how "ministrable" politicians become ministers. Each index has been standardized for the sake of cross-comparison. We conclude that despite the relevance given to technical expertise over politics, political capital is the factor that has the most influence on the probability of individuals becoming ministers of political, social or economic Ministries. Through a logistic regression model and a survival analysis model, we demonstrated that, although academic formation and social background seem relevant, these aspects are less determinant than the political trajectories of individuals, which demonstrated the most robust predictor of becoming a minister.