Head of state is the generic term for the
individual or collective office that serves as the chief public
representative of a
monarchy,
republic,
federation,
commonwealth or other kind of
state. His or her role generally includes
personifying the continuity and legitimacy of the state and
exercising the political powers, functions and duties granted to
the head of state in the country's
constitution and laws. In
nation states the head of state is often
thought of as the official "leader" of the nation.
Charles de Gaulle described the
role he envisaged for the French president when he wrote the modern
French
constitution, stating the head
of state should embody "the spirit of the nation" for the nation
itself and the world:
une certaine idée de la France (a
certain idea about France). Today many countries expect their head
of state to embody national values in a similar fashion.
Constitutional models
In
protocol terms, states are
distinguished as
monarchy or
republic depending on the style (and usually mode
of accession, see below) of their head of state, a typical
constitutional provision, but as such this is not defining for the
actual political system, which often evolves significantly within
either or can remain unaltered in other respects despite a
transition from monarchy to republic (or, rarer, vice versa).
Different state
constitutions
(fundamental laws) establish different political systems, but four
major types of heads of state can be distinguished:
- the non-executive head of state system, in which the
head of state does not hold any executive power and mainly plays a
symbolic role on behalf of the state;
- the parliamentary system,
in which the head of state possesses executive power but the
exercise of this power is done on the advice of a cabinet;
- the presidential system, in
which the head of state is also the head of government and actively exercises
executive power; and
- the semi-presidential
system, in which the head of state shares exercise with a head
of government.
Non-executive head of state
Its holders are excluded completely from the executive: they do not
possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal,
within the government. Hence their states' governments are not
referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state
styles of "His/Her
Majesty's Government" or "His/Her Excellency's Government." Within
this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions
may exist. The King of Sweden, since the passage of the modern
Swedish constitution (the
Instrument of Government) in
the mid 1970s, no longer has any of the parliamentary system head
of state functions that had previously belonged to Swedish kings,
but still receives formal cabinet briefings monthly in the royal
palace. In contrast, the only contact the Irish president has with
the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by
the
Taoiseach (prime minister) to the
President. However, he or she has no access to documentation and
all access to ministers goes through the
Department of the Taoiseach
(prime minister's office).
Parliamentary system
In
parliamentary systems the head
of state may be merely the nominal chief executive officer of the
state, possessing executive power (hence the description of the
United
Kingdom
monarch's government as
His/Her Majesty's
Government; a term indicating that all power belongs to the
sovereign and the government acts on Her Majesty's behalf, not
parliament's). In reality however, following a process of
constitutional evolution, powers are usually only exercised by
direction of a
cabinet,
presided over by a
prime minister who
is answerable to the legislature. This accountability requires that
someone be chosen from parliament who has parliament's support (or,
at least, not parliament's opposition - a subtle but important
difference). It also gives parliament the right to vote down the
government, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary
dissolution. Governments are thus said to be responsible (or
answerable) to parliament, with the government in turn accepting
constitutional responsibility for offering constitutional
advice to the head of state.
In parliamentary
constitutional
monarchies, the legitimacy of the unelected head of state
typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the
elected representatives. Accordingly, at the time of the
Glorious Revolution, the English
Parliament acted of its own authority to name a new king and queen
(joint monarchs
Mary II and
William III); likewise,
Edward VIII's
abdication required the passage of a law in the parliament of each
of the
Commonwealth realms, given
the independence of each country's monarchy in
personal union. In monarchies with a written
constitution, the position of monarch is a creature of the
constitution and could quite properly be abolished through a
democratic procedure of constitutional amendment, although there
are often significant procedural hurdles imposed on such a
procedure (as in the
Constitution
of Spain).
In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of
state within a parliamentary system. The older the constitution,
the more constitutional leeway tends to exist for a head of state
to exercise greater powers over government, as many older
parliamentary system constitutions in fact give heads of state
powers and functions akin to presidential or semi-presidential
systems, in some cases without containing reference to modern
democratic principles of accountability to parliament or even to
modern governmental offices.
For example, the 1848 constitution of the
Kingdom of Italy
was sufficiently ambiguous and outdated by the
1920s to give King Victor Emmanuel
III leeway to appoint Benito
Mussolini to power in controversial circumstances. Some
Commonwealth parliamentary systems combine a body of written
constitutional law, unwritten constitutional precedent,
Orders-in-Council,
letters patent, etc. that may give a head of
state or their representative additional powers in unexpected
circumstances (such as the
dismissal of
Australian prime minister
Gough Whitlam by
Governor-General Sir
John Kerr.)
Other examples of heads of state in parliamentary systems using
greater powers than usual, either because of ambiguous
constitutions or unprecedented national emergencies, include the
decision by King
Léopold III
of the Belgians to surrender on behalf of his state to the
invading German army in 1940, against the will of his government.
Judging that his responsibility to the nation by virtue of his
coronation oath required him to act, he believed that his
government's decision to fight rather than surrender was mistaken
and would damage Belgium. (Leopold's decision proved highly
controversial. After
World War II,
Belgium voted in a referendum to allow him back on the throne, but
because of the ongoing controversy he ultimately abdicated.)
Presidential system
Note: "presidential" in this context does not automatically
imply a president but any head of state –
elected, hereditary, or dictatorial – who presides. It is
sometimes called the "imperial model," without regard for the
monarchic title emperor, rather referring to the luster.
Some constitutions or fundamental laws provide for a head of state
who is not just in theory but in practice chief executive,
operating separately from, and independent from, the legislature.
This system is sometimes known as a "presidential system" because
the government is answerable solely and exclusively to a presiding,
acting head of state, and is selected by and on occasion dismissed
by the head of state without reference to the legislature.
It is
notable that some presidential systems, while not providing for
collective executive answerability to the legislature, may require
legislative approval for individuals prior to their assumption of
cabinet office and empower the legislature to remove a president
from office (for example, in the United States of America
). In this case the debate centres on the
suitability of the individual for office, not a judgement on them
when appointed, and does not involve the power to reject or approve
proposed cabinet members
en bloc, so it is not
answerability in the sense understood in a parliamentary
system.
Some presidential systems may also include a prime minister, but,
as with the other ministers, they are responsible to the president,
not the legislature. In many such instances the office is of
minimal political importance, sometimes even held by some
administrative technocrat rather than a politician. A prime
minister in a presidential system lacks the constitutional and
political dominance of a prime minister in a parliamentary system
and is often seen as simply a politically junior figure who may run
the mechanics of government while allowing the president to set the
broad national agenda.
Presidential systems are a notable
feature of constitutions in the Americas,
including those of the United States, Brazil
, Colombia
and Mexico
; this is
generally attributed to the influence of the United States Constitution, as
the United States served as an inspiration and model for the
Latin American wars
of independence of the early 19th century. Most
presidents in such countries are selected by democratic means
(popular direct or indirect election); however, like all other
systems, the presidential model also encompasses people who become
head of state by other means, notably through military dictatorship
or
coup d'état, as often
seen in
Latin American,
Middle Eastern and other presidential regimes.
Some of the characteristics of a presidential system (i.e., a
strong dominant political figure with an executive answerable to
them, not the legislature) can also be found among
absolute monarchies,
parliamentary monarchies and
single party (e.g.
Communist) regimes, but in most cases of
dictatorship apply their stated constitutional models in name only
and not in political theory or practice.
In the 1870s in the United States, in the aftermath of the
impeachment of President
Andrew Johnson and his near-removal from
office, it was speculated that the United States, too, would move
from a presidential system to a semi-presidential or even
parliamentary one, with the
Speaker of the
House of
Representatives becoming the
real
center of government as a quasi-prime minister. This did not happen
and the presidency, having been damaged by three late nineteenth
and early twentieth century assassinations (
Lincoln,
Garfield and
McKinley) and one impeachment (Johnson),
reasserted its political dominance by the early twentieth century
through such figures as
Theodore
Roosevelt and
Woodrow
Wilson.
Semi-presidential systems
Semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and
parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be
answerable to both the president and the legislature. The
constitution of the
Fifth French
Republic provides for a prime minister who is chosen by the
president, but who nevertheless must be able to gain support in the
National Assembly. Should a
president be of one side of the political spectrum and the
opposition be in control of the legislature, the president is
usually obliged to select someone from the opposition to become
prime minister, a process known as
Cohabitation. President
François Mitterrand, a Socialist,
for example, was forced to cohabit with the neo-Gaullist (right
wing)
Jacques Chirac, who became his
prime minister from 1986 to 1988. In the French system, in the
event of cohabitation, the president is often allowed to set the
policy agenda in foreign affairs and the prime minister runs the
domestic agenda.
Other countries evolve into something akin to a semi-presidential
system or indeed a full presidential system.
Weimar Germany
, for example, in its constitution provided for a
popularly elected president with theoretically dominant executive
powers that were intended to be exercised only in emergencies, and
a cabinet appointed by him from the Reichstag, which was expected, in
normal circumstances, to be answerable to the Reichstag.
Initially, the President was merely a symbolic figure with the
Reichstag dominant; however, persistent political instability, in
which governments often lasted only a few months, led to a change
in the power structure of the republic, with the president's
emergency powers called increasingly into use to prop up
governments challenged by critical or even hostile Reichstag votes.
By 1932, power had shifted to such an extent that the German
President,
Paul von Hindenburg,
was able to dismiss a
chancellor and
select his own person for the job, even though the outgoing
chancellor possessed the confidence of the Reichstag while the new
chancellor did not. Subsequently President von Hindenburg used his
power to appoint
Adolf Hitler as
Chancellor without consulting the Reichstag.
Single-party states
Since real political power belongs to the head of the sole legal
party, in certain states under Marxist constitutions of the
constitutionally socialist state
type inspired by the former USSR and its constitutive
Soviet republics, there was no
formal office of head of state, but rather the head of the
legislative "soviet" branch of power was considered the head of
state. In the Soviet Union this office carried such titles as
"Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR,"
"Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council" and "Chairman of
the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of
Soviets" in the case of
Soviet Russia
(until 1922). This position may or may not have been held by the
de facto Soviet leader at the moment. For
example,
Nikita Khruschov never
headed the Supreme Soviet but ruled as Secretary General of party
and prime minister.
This may
even lead to an institutional variability, as in North Korea
, where, after the presidency of party leader
Kim Il Sung, the office was vacant for
years, the late president being granted the posthumous title (akin
to some ancient Far Eastern traditions to give posthumous names and
titles to royalty) of president "in eternity" (while all real
power, as party leader, itself not formally created for 4 years,
was inherited by his son Kim Jong Il,
initially without any formal office) until it was formally replaced
on 5 September 1998, for ceremonial purposes, by the office of
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, while
the party leader's post as Chairman of the National Defense
Commission was simultaneously declared "the highest post of the
state", not unlike Deng Xiaoping
earlier in the People's Republic of China.
Complications with categorisation
While clear categories do exist, it is sometimes difficult to
choose which category some individual heads of state belong to.
Constitutional change in Liechtenstein
in 2003 gave its head of state, the Prince, constitutional powers that
included a veto over legislation and power to dismiss the
cabinet. It could be argued that the strengthening of the
Prince's powers, vis-a-vis the legislature, has moved Liechtenstein
into the semi-presidential category. Similarly the original powers
given to the
Greek
President under the 1974 Hellenic Republic constitution moved
Greece closer to the French semi-presidential model. And the power
of the monarch of the
Commonwealth
realms to dismiss any of his or her governments at will would
suggest that any of the realms should nominally belong to the
semi-presidential category also. In reality, the category to which
each head of state belongs is assessed not by theory but by
practice. As a general rule, the Vice-Regal representative of the
monarch acts on the advice of the leader of the majority of the
lower house, but on two occasions at least, this advice has been
ignored: in the cases of the dismissal of the legitimate
governments of New South Wales in 1932, and of the Australian
federal government in 1975.
Another complication exists with
South
Africa, in which the
President is in fact elected by
the legislature (similar, in principle, to a prime minister) but
also holds the title of President, serves for a fixed term, and is
expected to be the nation's head of state.
Nauru and Botswana
are similar.
Panama
, during the
military dictatorships of Omar
Torrijos and Manuel Noriega, was
nominally a presidential republic. However, the elected
civilian presidents were effectively figureheads with real
political power being exercised by the chief of the military.
Roles of the head of state
Often depending on which constitutional category (above) a head of
state belongs to, they may have some or all of the roles listed
below, and various other ones.
Symbolic role
One of the most important roles of the modern head of state is
being a living
national symbol of
the state; in monarchies this extends to the sovereign being a
symbol of the unbroken continuity of the state. For instance, the
Canadian monarch is described by
the government as being the personification of the Canadian state,
and is described by the
Department of Canadian
Heritage as the "personal symbol of allegiance, unity and
authority for all Canadians."
In many countries, official
portraits of
the head of state can be found in government offices, courts of
law, even airports, libraries, and other public buildings. The
idea, sometimes regulated by law, is to use these portraits to make
the public aware of the symbolic connection to the government, a
practice that dates back to mediaeval times. Sometimes this
practice is taken to excess, and the head of state begins to
believe that he is the only symbol of the nation, resulting in the
emergence of a
personality cult
where the image of the head of state is the only visual
representation of the country, surpassing other symbols such as the
flag,
constitution,
founding father(s) etc. A modern
champion in this field was
Adolf
Hitler, the Nazi
Führer. Other
common iconic presences, especially of monarchs, are on coins,
stamps, and banknotes; more discreet variations see them
represented by a mention and/or signature. Furthermore, various
institutions, monuments, and the like, are named for current or
previous heads of state, such as streets and squares, schools,
charitable and other organisations; in monarchies (e.g. Belgium)
there can even be a practice to attribute the adjective 'royal' on
demand based on existence for a given number of years. However,
such political techniques can also be used by leaders without the
formal rank of head of state, even party - and other revolutionary
leaders without formal state mandate.
In general, the active duties amount to a ceremonial role. Thus in
diplomatic affairs, heads of state are often the first person to
greet an important foreign visitor. They may also assume a sort of
informal host role during the VIP's visit, inviting the visitor to
a
state dinner at his or her mansion or
palace, or some other equally hospitable affair.
At home, they are expected to render luster to various occasions by
their presence, such as by attending artistic or sports
performances or competitions, expositions, celebrations, military
parades and remembrances, prominent funerals, visiting parts of the
country, enterprises, care facilities (often in a theatrical honour
box, on a platform, on the front row, at the honours table etc.),
sometimes performing a symbolic act such as cutting a ribbon or
pushing a button at an opening, christening something with
champagne, laying the first stone, and so on. Some parts of
national life receive their regular attention, often on an annual
basis, or even in the form of official patronage.
As the potential for such invitations is enormous, such duties are
often in part delegated: to such persons as a spouse, other members
of the dynasty, a vice-president —for whom this is often the core
of their public role— or in other cases (possibly as a message, for
instance, to distance themselves without giving protocollary
offence) just a military or other aide.
For non-executive heads of state there is often a degree of
censorship by the politically responsible government (such as the
prime minister), discreetly approving agenda and speeches,
especially where the constitution (or customary law) assumes all
political responsibility by granting the crown inviolability (in
fact also imposing political emasculation) as in the Kingdom of
Belgium from its very beginning; in a monarchy this may even be
extended to some degree to other members of the dynasty, especially
the heir to the throne.
Chief diplomatic officer
The head of state accredits his or her country's
ambassador,
High Commissioners or rarer equivalent
diplomatic mission chiefs (such as
papal
nuncio), through sending formal
Letter of Credence to other heads of
state and, conversely, receives the letters of their foreign
counterparts. Without that accreditation, they cannot take up a
role and receive the highest diplomatic status. However, there are
provisions in international law to perform the same diplomatic
functions, or at least part of them, such as accrediting, with a
lower title with the head of government, or functioning within
another mission.
The head of state also signs international treaties on behalf of
the state, or has them signed in his/her name by ministers
(government members or diplomats); subsequent
ratification, when necessary, usually rests
with the
legislature.
In Canada, Australia and New Zealand, these roles of the head of
state have been taken over by the
vice-regal
representative.
- :Example 1: Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law of the
Federal Republic of Germany states:
- ::The Federal President shall represent the Federation in
its international relations. He shall conclude treaties
with foreign states on behalf of the Federation. He shall
accredit and receive envoys.
- :Example 2: Section 2, Article 81 of the
Constitution of
the People's Republic of China states:
- ::The President of the People's Republic of China receives
foreign diplomatic representatives on behalf of the People's
Republic of China and, in pursuance of decisions of the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress, appoints and recalls
plenipotentiary representatives abroad, and ratifies and abrogates
treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign
states.
Chief executive officer
In the majority of states, whether republics or monarchies,
executive authority is vested, at
least notionally, in the head of state. In presidential systems the
head of state is the actual,
de facto chief
executive officer. Under parliamentary systems the executive
authority is exercised by the head of state, but in practice is
done so on the advice of the cabinet of ministers. This produces
such terms as "Her Majesty's Government" and "His Excellency's
Government."
Examples of parliamentary systems in which
the head of state is notional chief executive include Australia, Austria
, Canada
, Denmark
, Italy and the
United
Kingdom. The few exceptions include the Czech
Republic
, Ireland
and Sweden
, where
executive authority is explicitly vested in the
cabinet.
- :Example 1 (presidential system): Article 2,
Section 1 of the United
States Constitution states:
- ::The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America.
- :Example 2 (constitutional monarchy):
According to Section 12 of the Constitution of Denmark 1953:
- ::Subject to the limitations laid down in this Constitution
Act the King shall have the supreme authority in all the affairs of
the Realm, and he shall exercise such supreme authority through the
Ministers.
- :Example 3 (constitutional monarchy): Under
Chapter II, Section 61 of the Commonwealth of
Australia Constitution Act 1900:
- ::The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the
Queen and is exercisable by the Governor-General as the Queen's
representative, and extends to the execution and maintenance of
this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth.
- :Example 4 (republican parliamentary system):
According to Article 26 (2) of the 1975 Constitution of Greece:
- ::The executive power shall be exercised by the President
of the Republic and by the government.
Chief appointments officer
The head of state appoints most or all the key officials in the
government and
civil service,
including members of the cabinet, the
prime minister or equivalent, key judicial
figures, and all major office holders. In many parliamentary
systems, the
head of government
(e.g. prime minister) is appointed with the consent (in practice
often decisive) of the legislature, and other figures are appointed
on the head of government's advice. Some countries have alternative
provisions: under Article 4 of the
Instrument of Government, 1974, the
constitution of Sweden grants to the
parliamentary speaker
the role of formally appointing the
prime minister.
In practice, these decisions are often a formality. The last time a
British monarch
unilaterally selected the
UK's prime minister was
in 1963, when Queen
Elizabeth II chose Sir
Alec Douglas-Home to succeed
Harold Macmillan as her chief
advisor in that country. In Canada, a similar situation took place
in 1925 wherein
Governor
General Lord
Byng of Vimy appointed
Arthur
Meighen after
William
Lyon Mackenzie King refused to resign the premiership (known as
the
King-Byng Affair).
Governor-General of Australia
Sir
John Kerr appointed
Malcolm Fraser as
caretaker prime minister after
dismissing
Gough Whitlam.
In presidential systems, such as that of the United States,
appointments are nominated by the President's sole discretion, but
this nomination is often subject to parliamentary confirmation (in
the case of the US, the
Senate
has to approve cabinet nominees and judicial appointments by simple
majority).
The head of state may also dismiss office-holders. There are many
variants on how this can be done. For example, members of the Irish
Cabinet are dismissed by the
President on the advice of the
Taoiseach (prime minister); in other instances, the head of state
may be able to dismiss an office holder unilaterally; other heads
of state, or their representatives, have the theoretical power to
dismiss any office-holder, while it is exceptionally rarely used.
In
France
, while the
president cannot force the prime minister to tender the resignation
of his government, he can, in practice, request it if the prime
minister is from his own majority. In presidential systems,
the president often has the power to fire ministers at his sole
discretion. In the United States, convention calls for cabinet
secretaries to resign on their own initiative when called to do
so.
- :Example 1 (semi-presidential system): Chapter
4, Section 2 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Korea states:
- ::The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the
consent of the National Assembly.
- :Example 2 (parliamentary system): Article
13.1.1 of the Constitution of
Ireland:
- ::The President shall, on the nomination of Dáil Éireann
[the lower house], appoint the Taoiseach [prime
minister].
Legislative roles
Most countries require that all
bill passed by the house or houses of
the legislature be signed into law by the head of state. In some
states, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and Ireland, the head
of state is, in fact, formally considered a tier of parliament.
However, in most parliamentary systems, the head of state cannot
refuse to sign a bill, and, in granting a bill their assent,
indicate that it was passed in accordance with the correct
procedures. The signing of a bill into law is formally known as
promulgation. Some monarchical
states call this procedure
Royal
Assent.
- :Example 1 (presidential system): Article 1,
Section 7 of the United
States Constitution states:
- ::Every Bill which shall have passed the House of
Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be
presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he
shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections
to that House in which it shall have originated...
- :Example 2 (parliamentary system): Section
11.a.1. of the Basic Laws of
Israel states:
- ::The President of the State shall sign every Law, other
than a Law relating to its powers.
In some parliamentary systems, the head of state retains certain
powers in relation to bills to be exercised at his or her
discretion. They may have authority to veto a bill until the houses
of the legislature have reconsidered it, and approved it a second
time; reserve a bill to be signed later, or suspend it indefinitely
(generally in states with the Royal Prerogative; this power is
rarely used); refer a bill to the courts to test its
constitutionality; refer a bill to the people in a
referendum.
If he or she is also chief executive, he or she can thus
politically control the necessary executive measures without which
a proclaimed law can remain dead letter, sometimes for years or
even forever.
Military role
A head of state is generally the literal, or notional,
commander-in-chief of a state's
armed forces, holding the highest office in all
military
chains of command.
- :Example 1: Article II, Section 2 of the
United States
Constitution states:
- ::The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several
States, when called into the actual Service of the United
States.
- :Example 2: Article III, Section 15 of the
Constitution Act, 1867, a
part of the Constitution of
Canada, states:
- ::The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and
of all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, is hereby
declared to continue to be vested in the Queen.
In a constitutional monarchy or non-executive presidency the head
of state may hold the ultimate authority over the armed forces but
will only normally, as per either written or conventional laws,
exercise their authority on the advice of their ministers, meaning
de facto decision making on military manoeuvers lies with the
cabinet. The monarch or president will, however, perform ceremonial
duties related to the country's armed forces, and will sometimes
appear in military uniform for these purposes; in the case of a
female sovereign her consort and other members of the royal family
may also appear in military garb. This is generally the only time a
head of state of a stable, democratic country will appear dressed
in such a manner, as statesmen and public are eager to assert the
primate of (civilian, elected) politics over the armed
forces.
In
military dictatorships, or
governments which have arisen from
coups-d'etat, the
position of commander-in-chief is obvious, as all authority in such
a government derives from the application of military force;
occasionally a power vacuum created by war is filled by a head of
state stepping beyond his or her normal constitutional role, as
King
Albert I of Belgium did
during
World War I. In these, and
revolutionary, regimes, the head of state, and often
executive ministers whose office in
legally civilian, will frequently appear in military uniform.
Summoning and dissolving the legislature
A head of state is often empowered to summon and dissolve the
country's legislature. In most parliamentary systems, this is done
on the advice of the head of government (e.g. Prime Minister) or
cabinet. In some parliamentary systems, and in some presidential
systems, however, the head of state may do so on their own
initiative. Some states have fixed term parliaments, with no option
of bringing forward elections (e.g. Article II, Section 3, of the
U.S. Constitution). In other systems there are
usually fixed terms, but the head of state retains authority to
dissolve the legislature in certain circumstances. Where a head of
government has lost the confidence of parliament, some heads of
state may refuse a parliamentary dissolution, where one is
requested, forcing the head of government's resignation.
- :Example: Article 13.2.2. of the Constitution of Ireland states:
- ::The President may in absolute discretion refuse to
dissolve Dáil Éireann on the
advice of a Taoiseach [Prime Minister] who has ceased to retain the
support of a majority in Dáil Éireann
Other prerogatives
Selection and various types and styles of Heads of State
Various heads of state use a multitude of different styles and
titles, often with many variations in content under diverse
constitutions, even in a given state. In numerous cases, two or
more of the following peculiar types apply, not counting the
primary duo monarchy-republic. There are also several methods of
head of state succession in
the event of the removal or death of a sitting head of state.
In a monarchy, the
Monarch is the Head of
State. This is a relatively recent phenomenon; until the last few
decades a sovereign was seen as the personal embodiment of the
state (
"L'etat c'est moi",
so to speak), and therefore could not be head of himself or herself
(hence many constitutions from the 19th century and earlier make no
mention of a "head of state"). Though some still maintain that
calling a Monarch Head of State is incorrect, it has now become a
widespread political convention to attach the label to Monarchs,
regardless of their political position.The
Emperor of Japan is defined as a symbol,
not head, of state by the post-war constitution (contrasting with
the former divine status) but is treated as an imperial head of
state under diplomatic protocol (even ranking above kings) and
retains Shinto mystique.
For the numerous styles in past and present monarchies, in most
cases commonly -though often not quite accurately- rendered as
King or
Emperor, but
also many other (e.g.
Grand duke,
Sultan), see
Prince,
princely state and
monarchy.
In a
republic, the head of state is
nowadays usually styled
President, and
usually their permanent constitutions provide for election, but
many have or had other titles and even specific constitutional
positions (see below), and some have used simply 'head of state' as
their only formal title.
Shared and substitute heads of state
Interim
Whenever a head of state is not available for any reason,
constitutional provisions may allow the role to fall temporarily to
an assigned person or collective body.
In a monarchy, this is usually a
regent or
collegial regency (council). In a republic, this is - depending on
provisions outlined by the constitution or improvised - a
vice-president, the chief of government, the
legislature or its presiding officer.
Delegation
In cases where one person is head of state of multiple sovereign
countries there may be need to appoint a permanent representative
in each (except in the head of state's country of primary
residence).
Examples are all but one of the Commonwealth realms, where their king or
queen resides in another of the Crown's kingdoms, the United Kingdom, and so is represented in the others by a
crown-appointed governor-general
(unhyphenated in Canada as "Governor
General"), as well as Andorra
, which is headed by two non-resident co-princes,
one of which is also the President
of France.
In Commonwealth realms the Governor-General may fulfill many of the
roles of a head of state, but is typically not, either legally or
conventionally, regarded as the head of state, but rather as an
appointed representative of the head of state mandated to act in
his or her place, even when the monarch is present in the country.
Some governors-general are considered
de facto heads of state because,
though not the
de jure (juridical or legal)
head of state, in practice they function like a head of state in
most or all
jurisdictions.
In diplomatic situations, governors-general, if treated as de facto
heads of state, are sometimes accorded a status akin to a head of
state, but that is by tradition and on a case by case and person by
person basis, not automatic. At state banquets, for example, toasts
are made to the monarch, never to a governor-general, except
insofar as a personal toast may be proposed subsequently to
"Governor-General and Mrs. Smith" as hosts of, or guests at, the
banquet. Similarly,
letters of
credence may contain the name of the head of state, not the
governor-general, even if it is the latter who signs and receives
them.
In 2005,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand
changed their policies and now all letters of credence solely address the
Governor-General of the relevant
nation, not to the Sovereign. The Office of the
Prime Minister of Canada stated in
its press release announcing the changes to the Letters of Credence
and Recall, issued 29 December 2004, that "in international
diplomatic practice, Letters of Credence are formal diplomatic
instruments that are presented by High Commissioners and
Ambassadors to the Head of State of the host country... Letters of
Credence and Recall presented by foreign High Commissioners and
Ambassadors to Canada will now be addressed to the Governor General
directly." This wording implies that the government of Canada, as
least during the premiership of
Paul
Martin, regarded the Governor General as the Canadian Head of
State.
Similarly, a 2004 report issued by the Canadian Standing Committee
on Government Operations and Estimates recognised that the nation
is a constitutional monarchy, however described the 1947
Letters Patent as having devolved all powers
of the sovereign to the Governor General, making the latter head of
state, and then continued to refer to the Governor General as head
of state throughout the report.
That same year, the then Governor General,
Adrienne Clarkson, attended a
ceremony in France to recognize
Canada's involvement at Juno Beach
in the D-Day landings
of 1944. Her office stated that she was present as Canada's
head of state, and thus the Governor General was treated as the
senior official in attendance, over even the Queen who was also
present at the ceremony. While laying wreaths, the ceremony
commentator stated that the Governor General was laying a wreath on
behalf of Canada, whereas the Queen was laying a wreath on behalf
of the
Commonwealth.
Rideau Hall
later retracted the assertion that the Governor
General attended as head of state, saying that it was an error of a
junior official, but this did not explain the unusual shift in
protocol observed at the ceremony itself.
In opposition to this thinking, in the opening of his first speech
in the Canadian House of Commons as
Prime Minister,
Stephen Harper stated: "I'd like to
acknowledge and thank a number of people. First of all I'd would
like to pay tribute to our head of state, Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II." As well, the Governor General of Canada's website
now refers to the
Queen of Canada
as Canada's head of state. However, the Canadian Letters of
Credence and Recall continue to be issued in the name of, and
addressed to the Governor General alone.
In the
case of Andorra, two Co-Princes act as the
principality's heads of state; one is also simultaneously the
President of France, residing in
France, and the other is the Bishop of Urgell
, residing in Spain
. Each
Co-Prince is represented in Andorra by a delegate, though these
persons hold no formal title.
As a
colony or other dependent state or territory lacks the authority to
vest in a true head of state of its own, it either has no
comparable office, simply receiving those roles exercised by the
paramount powers (in person or, most of the time, through an
appointed representative, often styled (Lieutenant-)governor, but also various other titles, on the
Cook
Islands
even simply King/Queen's Representative) or has
one, such as a formerly sovereign dynasty, but under a form of
metropolitan guardianship, such as protection, vassal or tributary
status.
Extraordinary arrangements
In
exceptional situations, such as war, occupation, revolution or a
coup d'état, constitutional
institutions, including the symbolically crucial head of state, may
be reduced to a lesser role (legitimating the power taken over
behind the throne) or be suspended in favor of an emergency office
(such as the original Roman Dictator) or
eliminated by of new 'provisionary' regime (sincere or clinging to
power), often a collective of the junta type, with endlessly varying
names and composition, or simply find itself under military
authority as imposed by an occupying force, such as a military governor (an early example being
the Spartan
Harmost).
Theocratic, Ecclesiocratic and other 'pious' Heads of
State
Since Antiquity, various dynasties -or individual rulers- claimed
to have received the right to rule by divine authority, such as a
mandate of heaven.
Some monarchs even claimed divine ancestry, e.g., both the Egyptian
Pharaoh and the
Great
Inca allegedly were descended from their respective sun gods,
and often maintained this legitimating bloodline by
incestuous marriages. In pagan Rome, during the
Principate, the title
divus
('divine') was conferred, notably posthumously, on the Princeps
(commonly rendered as Emperor after the separate, not reserved
title Imperator, but constitutionally a republican office, rather a
head of government; formally the two eponymous consuls remained the
joint heads of state), a symbolically crucial legitimating element
in establishing a de facto dynasty.
In Christianity (
Roman
Catholicism, and in some cases continued by Protestant faiths):
In Islam:
- Caliphs were the spiritual and temporal,
absolute successors of the Prophet Mohammed, but gradually lost
political power. Various political Muslim leaders since styled
themselves Caliph and served as dynastic heads of state,
sometimes in addition to another title, such as the Ottoman Sultan.
- Imam of rare theocratic Muslim states known
as imamates; notably:
- the
present sultanate of Oman
(`Uman) was
ruled 661 - 1811/1821 by the Ibadi community
under a religious leader styled Imam al-Muslimin "Imam of
the Muslims"), a member of the Azd clan, with several interruptions
under foreign rulers; in 1784 while Imam rule continued, Muscat and
Oman became a de facto sovereign state under a secular Al ´Bu Sa`id
ruler; 3 October 1868 - January 1871 Imam rule was briefly
restored.
- in
Yemen
, and with suzerainty over other parts of the
Arabian peninsula
- in (Lower) `Asir, under the Idris dynasty, the religious style
of Imam was combined with the temporal ruler style of Sheikh from 1830. Since 1909 the higher style (assumed by the
last of four Shaikhs) of Emir was used until 20
November 1930 when the shaikhdom was incorporated into Hejaz-Nejd
(which became modern Saudi
Arabia
)
- in Nejd the Emirs (1744 - 1817) were, from
15 January 1902, also Imams and Protectors of the Wahhabis (fundamentalist sect of Sunni Islam)
- the
Adal Imams 1526 - 1548 ruled the later British Somalia and Somaliland
(an interlude between Ottoman and other foreign
regimes).
- In
some of the 19th-century Jihad states of
the upper Niger (Mali
), the
Massina/Sise Jihad state, its
successor states in Segu and Massina after its conquest, and the
Tijaniyya Jihad state (though
these leaders had a variety of actual powers, and were also often
styled Almamy or Caliph; the last fama of the Samori Empire
(formerly Wassulu) till its
extinction by French colonization.
- after
the 1813 annexation into tsarist Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan,
there was a nationalist 1828 - 1859 Imamate of Daghestan
until its 1859 reincorporatation into the Russian
Empire.
- Sheikh, e.g., of the Sunni Sanusi order in Cyrenaica (Libya) since 1843,
styled Emir since 25 October 1920
- In
the Islamic Republic of Iran
the
rahbar (Supreme Leader, at
present Ali Khamenei) and a council of guardians, all Shiah
clerics, hold the highest offices in terms of political power
(hence some consider it a theocracy), above the elected (sometimes
lay) President, who is formally the constitutional head of
government.
- The Aga Khans, a unique dynasty of
temporal/religious leadership, leading an offshoot of Shiite Islam in Central and
South Asia, once ranking among British India's princely states, continues to the present
day.
In
Hinduism, certain dynasties adopted a
title expressing their positions as 'servant' of a patron deity of
the state, but in the sense of a (prime) minister under a figure
head of state, ruling 'in the name of' the patron god(ess), e.g.,
In
Buddhism:
- the
Dalai Lama (a reincarnated Buddha) was
the political and spiritual leader ('god-king') of Tibet before annexation by the government of the
People's
Republic of China
.
- Outer Mongolia, the former
homeland of the imperial Genghis Khan-dynasty, was another lamaist theocracy from 1585, using various
styles in several languages, see Khutughtu; replaced on 20 May 1924 by a Communist
republic of Mongolia (which assigned the Head of State role to
chairmanships), later democratised.
City states and crowned republics
- The
polis in Antiquity (actual Greek and many
parallels, e.g., Italian) and the equivalent city states in the
feudal era, and in some cases even much later, (many in Italy, the
rest of the Holy Roman Empire, the
Moorish taifa in Iberia
, essentially tribal-type but urbanized regions
throughout the world in the Maya
civilization, etc.) offer a wide spectrum of styles, either
monarchic (mostly identical to homonyms in larger states) or
republican, see Chief
magistrate
- Doges were elected by their Italian
aristocratic republics from a patrician nobility, but 'reigned' as
sovereign dukes.
- The paradoxical term crowned
republic refers to various state arrangements that combine
'republican' and 'monarchic' characteristics
- The Netherlands
historically had officials called stadholders and stadholders-general, titles meaning
'lieutenant', i.e. or governor, originally for the Habsburg
monarchs
Multiple or collective Heads of State
Such arrangements are not to be confused with supranational
entities which are not states and are not defined by a common
monarchy but may (or not) have a symbolical, essentially
protocollary, titled highest office, e.g.
Head of the Commonwealth (held by
the British crown, but not legally reserved for it) or 'Head of the
Arab Union' (14 February - 14 July 1958, held by the Hashemite
King of Iraq, during its short-lived
Federation with Jordan, its Hashemite sister-realm).
Unique cases and titles
Though "president" and various monarchic titles are most commonly
used for heads of state, in some nationalistic regimes (usually
republics), the leader adopts, formally or de facto, a unique style
simply meaning "leader" in the national language, such as Nazi
Germany's single party chief and head of state and government,
Adolf Hitler
Führer (see that article
for equivalents).
In 1959,
when former British crown colony
Singapore
gained self-government, it adopted the Malay style
Yang di-Pertuan
Negara (literally means "head of state" in Malay) for its governor (the actual head of
state remained the British monarch). The second and last
incumbent of the office, Yusof bin
Ishak, kept the style at the 31 August 1963 unilateral
declaration of independence and after the 16 September 1963
accession to Malaysia
as a state (so now as a constitutive part of the
federation, a non-sovereign level). After expulsion from
Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Singapore became a sovereign
Commonwealth republic and
installed Yusof bin Ishak as its first President.
There are also a few nations in which the exact title and
definition of the office of head of state have been vague. During
the
Cultural Revolution,
following the downfall of
Liu Shaoqi, who
was
Chairman
of the People's Republic of China, no successor was named, so
the duties of the head of state were transferred collectively to
the
Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress. This situation was
later changed: the Head of State of the PRC is now the
President of the
People's Republic of China.
In
North
Korea, Kim Il-sung was named
"eternal president" following his death and the presidency was
abolished. As a result, the duties of the head of state are
constitutionally delegated to the
Supreme People's Assembly whose
chairman is "Head of State for foreign affairs" and performs some
of the roles of a Head of State, such as accrediting foreign
ambassadors. However, the symbolic role of a Head of State is
generally performed by
Kim Jong-il, who
as the leader of the party and military, is the most powerful
person in North Korea.
There is
debate as to whether Samoa
is/was an
elective monarchy or an aristocratic republic, given the
comparative ambiguity of the title O le Ao o le Malo and the nature
of the head of state's office.
In some states the office of head of state is not expressed in a
specific title reflecting that role, but constitutionally awarded
to a post of another formal nature. Thus in March 1979 Colonel
Muammar al-Gaddafi, who kept
absolute power (still known as "Guide of the Revolution"), after
ten years as combined Head of State and Head of government of the
Libyan
Jamahiriya ("state of the masses"), styled Chairman
of the Revolutionary Command Council, formally transferred both
qualities to the General secretaries of the General People's
Congress (comparable to a Speaker) respectively to a Prime
Minister, in political reality both his creatures.
Sometimes
a head of state assumes office as a state becomes legal and
political reality, before a formal title for the highest office is
determined; thus in the since 1 January 1960 independent republic
Cameroon
(Cameroun, a former French colony), the
first President, Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (b. 1924 - d.
1989), was at first not styled
président but 'merely'
known as
Chef d'état (literal French for 'Head of State')
until 5 May 1960; in
Uganda, military coup
leader since 25 January 1971
Idi Amin was
formally styled
military head of State till 21 February
1971, only from then on regular (but unconstitutional, not elected)
President.
Sometimes a state chooses to use a descriptive term instead of a
specific style, possibly even by abolishing an existing one. Thus
when the 18 September 1921 proclaimed Independence of the Rif,
under an
Emir (ambivalent word, either general
or ruler; full Arabic style
Amir ar-Rif 18 September 1921
- 1 February 1923) Sayyidi Muhammad bin `Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi;
known as Abd el-Krim (b. 1882 - d. 1963) transformed itself on 1
February 1923 into the Rif Republic (
Dawlat al-Jumhuriyya
ar-Rifiyya, in Arabic means circa 'people's state of the
Rif'), the same incumbent Head of State was now re-styled
Ra'is ad-Dawla (a literal Arabic
translation of "head of state") till it was dissolved, in 1926 by
Franco-Spanish forces. When Iraq, which the British had cut out of
the
Ottoman Empire by force, became a
separate state, yet not truly independent but a
League of Nations mandate, it
first had a Chairman of the Council of State (11 November 1920 - 23
August 1921 Saiyid Abdul Rahman al-Haydari) until the establishment
of the Hashemite kingdom, only later it was made fully independent;
when it was declared a republic, it had a Chairman of Sovereignty
Council (14 July 1958 - 8 February 1963 Muhammad Najib al-Rubai)
before its first president.
Legitimacy & Term in office
The position of head of state (within, or as well as, the state)
can be established in different ways, and based on different
legitimations.
- Force is often the true origin of power, but to keep
the victor’s right, formal legitimacy must be found, even if by
fictitious claim of continuity such as forged descent or legacy
from a previous dynasty
- There have also been true cases of granting sovereignty, such
as dynastic splits (not just by laws of succession, also by
deliberate acts); this is usually forced, such as
self-determination granted after nationalist revolts, or the last
Attalid king of Hellenistic Pergamon by testament leaving his realm to Rome (to
avoid a disastrous conquest)
- Under theocracy, divine status (as the
Pharaoh's; compare Roman divus and mandate of
heaven as in imperial China) can render earthly authority under
divine law, theoretically
unchallengeable; on the other hand, it can take the form of supreme
divine authority above the state's, giving the priesthood that
voices and interprets it a tool for political influence, control or
even dominance (thus Pharaoh Echnaton's
reforms were undone by the Amun-priesthood after his death,
possibly even elimination); often there is no clear model, so over
time power can be disputed, as between the Pope and Holy Roman
emperor in the Investiture conflict, as
the temporal power seeks to guarantee its legitimation, including a
formal ceremony during the coronation (such as unction; often crucial for popular support), by
controlling key nominations in the clergy
- The notion of a social contract
holds that the nation (the whole people, or just the electorate)
gives a mandate, as through acclamation or election
Individual heads of state may acquire their position in a number of
constitutional ways:
- The position of a Monarch is usually hereditary, but often with
constitutional restrictions, or even considerable liberty for the
incumbent or some body convening after his demise to chose from
eligible members of the ruling house, often limited to legal
descendants of the state religion or even parliamentary
permission.
- Election usually is the constitutional way to choose the head
of state of a republic, and some monarchies, either:
- directly: through popular election; this can be made a fiction
under the formula of popular acclamation; the electorate can be very
selective, such as the patrician families and/or the professional
corporations of a city state, or by the warriors in the case of a
'tribal' type war chief or a Roman general proclaimed by his
legions.
- indirectly: by members of the legislature or
of a special college of electors,
as in the United
States
- as an
exclusive prerogative: the heads of states of the constitutive
monarchies of a federation choose the head of state for the
federation as a whole from among themselves, as in two modern
federations: the United Arab Emirates
and Malaysia. The Pope, head of the
Roman Catholic Church (as such the 'Holy See' is diplomatically
recognised) and also monarchic head of state of Vatican City
, is chosen by cardinals
(appointed by previous Popes) under 80 years of age (in practice
from among themselves) in a papal
conclave.
- a head of state can be entitled to designate his successor,
such as Lord
Protector of the Commonwealth Oliver Cromwell (succeeded by his
son Richard)
A head of state may however seize power by force or revolution.
This is not to be confused with the notion of an authoritarian or
other totalitarian ruler, which rather concerns the oppressive
nature of power once acquired, and therefore applies only if he is
the true chief executive. Dictators often use democratic titles,
though some proclaim themselves monarchs. Examples of the latter
include Emperor
Napoleon III of
France and King
Zog of Albania;
in Spain, general
Francisco Franco
adopted the formal title
Jefe del Estado, or Chief of
State, and established himself as
regent for
a vacant monarchy. Uganda's
Idi Amin was
one of several who made themselves
President for Life, and even later
adopted an additional monarchic title.
Another type of extra-constitutional imposition, often also
changing the constitution, is by a foreign power (state or
alliance), either benign or, more often, rather for its own
interest, such as establishing a branch of their own or a friendly
dynasty.
Apart from violent ousting, a head of state's position can also be
lost in several ways:
- death (by natural causes, attentate, execution, on the
battlefield or other), even in case of an unlawful killing
- expiration of the term of office under various (nearly always
republican and/or elective) constitutions
- abdication or resignation, which is
legally a voluntary act (though it can be the result of
overpowering political or other pressure); in some cases, an
abdication cannot occur unilaterally, but comes into effect only
when approved by an act of parliament (e.g. British King Edward VIII)
- abolition of the post by constitutional change of the
institutions (occasionally on the contrary, a transitory clause
provides the last incumbent may end his term) or even ending the
existence of the state as such
- while generally a head of state enjoys the widest form of
inviolability, in some states the
exceptions to this includes impeachment,
or a similar constitutional procedure by which the highest
legislative and/or judicial authorities are empowered to revoke his
mandate on exceptional grounds: this may be a common crime, a
political sin, an act by which he violates such provisions as the
established religion (which is
mandatory for the monarch)
- by similar procedure his original mandate may be declared
invalid
- a referendum, either provided in the
constitution or simply considered the sovereign will of the
people
- if the state does not enjoy full and true sovereignty, he may
be validly discarded by a protector or suzerain liege
- serious violation of certain fundamental treaty obligations is
sometimes considered a (disputable) valid reason for the relevant
international community to depose a head of state, as the Security
Council of the UN or certain alliances may do
- formal declaration of incapacity to rule, usually on such
medical grounds as insanity or coma; this may either result in
suspension (see below) or termination of his mandate
All ways of ending a head of state's term may carry a risk for the
next incumbent, usually by contesting the validity of the
procedure, but sometimes even after death in the case of
pretenders.
Former heads of state
A monarch may retain his style and certain prerogatives after
abdication, as King
Leopold III
of Belgium who left the throne to his son after winning (but
not in both linguistic communities of the country) a referendum; he
retained a full royal household but no constitutional or
representative role at all.
In the case of Napoleon I Bonaparte, the Italian
principality of Elba
, chosen for
his luxurious imprisonment after the remains of his Grande Armée
(following the disastrous Russian campaign) had finally been
defeated in 1814, was transformed into a miniature version of his
First Empire, with most trappings of a sovereign monarchy, until
his Cent Jours ('100 days' escape and reseizure of power
in France) convinced the allies, reconvening the Vienna Congress in
1815, to revoke those gratuitous privileges and send him to die in
exile on barren Saint
Helena.
By tradition a deposed monarch who has not freely
abdicated, though no longer head of state, is
allowed to use their monarchical title as a
courtesy title for their lifetime.
Hence,
though he ceased to be Greek
king in
1973 (in a disputed referendum during the Regime of the Colonels), or in 1974
(in a referendum after the reestablishment of democracy), it is
still standard to refer to the deposed king as Constantine II of Greece.
However none of his descendants will be entitled to be called
King of the Hellenes (not
King of Greece) after
his death. Some states dispute the international acceptance of the
right of their deposed monarchs to be referred to by their former
title. It remains however the generally accepted formula, with most
states declining to get involved in disputes between governments
and deposed monarchs and simply stating that they are doing no more
than recognising tradition, not supporting claims to a defunct
throne. Other states have no problem with deposed monarchs being so
referred to by former title, and even allow them to travel
internationally on the state's
diplomatic passport.
Statistics
Current
(as in early 2009)
- World's longest serving current head of state:
King Rama IX of Thailand (since 9
June 1946: 63 years.)
- World's longest serving current
republican head of state: Leader and Guide of the
Revolution Muammar al-Gaddafi of
Libya
(since 1 September 1969: 40 years).
History
See also
Notes
- Buckingham Palace: The Queen and Commonwealth: Canada: The
Queen's role in Canada
- Constitution Act, 1867
- Prime Minister of Canada: Canada updates diplomatic
practice
- The Standing Committee on Government Operations and
Estimates: Second Report: The Governor General of Canada:Role,
Duties and Funding for Activities
- Prime Minister backs the Speech from the
Throne
- Governor General of Canada: Role and Responsibilities of
the Governor General
Sources, References and External links
- Pauly-Wissowa in German, on
Antiquity
- Rulers.org
List of rulers throughout time and places
- WorldStatesmen History and incumbents of states and
minor polities worldwide
- Regnal Chronologies King lists worldwide
(this link is not working, 9/27/08)
- RoyalArk
quite elaborate on many non-European monarchies
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in
German)
.jpg/200px-Washington_(3).jpg)
; after the Italian
unification ultimately just over Vatican City
(seven-member Federal Council, each acting
in turn as ceremonial chief of state); Bosnia and
Herzegovina
(three member presidium, from three different
nations); San
Marino
(two "Captains-regent");
(each nation's head of state was represented by a
high commissioner).
, reigned for
63 years (1926–1989).
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