Analele UniversităŃii din Craiova. Istorie, Anul XXII, Nr. 2(32)/2017 67 KING CAROL II AND THE PRIME MINISTER CONSTANTIN ARGETOIANU BETWEEN COOPERATION AND CONFLICT Mihaela Ilie* Abstract In this paper I will analyze the institutional relationship between King Carol II and the President of the Council of Ministers – Constantin Argetoianu. By examining this relationship, I will try to identify the decision?making circuit followed by the Government’s decisions. The route that the executive measures followed – from simple proposals, debates, consultation of those involved, decision taken (adoption or rejection) to their transformation into decrees laws, is eloquent to see how powerful or how weak a government was and, implicitly, what was the degree of independence the Council of Ministers displayed within the executive power in relation to the King during the period concerned. Key words: King Carol II, Constantin Argetoianu, Council of Ministers, decisionmaking process, National Renaissance Front Introduction The paper contains four parts; along them, the following aspects are presented and analyzed: the expectations from which the two protagonists – the King and the Prime Minister – started at the beginning of the Government, the collaboration relationship between the two and the position of each of them in the decision?making process, as well as the way the President of the Council of Ministers is removed in less than two months of government. For the beginning, I will present the consultations and reasons leading to Argetoianu’s election as Prime Minister, I will examine the arguments underlying the new governmental formula and I will emphasize the premises from which the two protagonists started the new established institutional relationship. The second part will include the meetings between the Ministers and the Monarch, underlying the attitude adopted by King Carol II and, at the same time, the position occupied by the Premier in relation to the other members of the Government; I will also analyze how simple ideas and proposals were or were not able to become decisions of the executive power, the intention being that of identifying the decisional circuit. In the third part I will present the attitude of the Prime Minister Argetoianu towards the single political party – the National Renaissance Front. It will also be examined the evolution of the position adopted by the President of the Council of Ministers regarding the responsibility that the Monarch granted to Constantin Argetoianu in assuming any unpopular decisions that the Government would take on behalf of the King. In contrast, I will also notice the attitude that Carol II had on the Premier. In the last part, I will present how the Sovereign decided to replace the leader of * Assistant Professor, PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Social Sciences, Political Science Specialization, Center of Post?Communist Political Studies (CEPOS), No. 13, A.I. Cuza Street, Dolj County, Phone: 0040251418515, Email: mihabuzatu@gmail.com