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Head of Government
Head of Government
Head of Government
In presidential republics or in absolute monarchies, the head of state is also usually the head of government.
The relationship between that leader and the government, however, can vary greatly, ranging from separation
of powers to autocracy, according to the constitution (or other basic laws) of the particular state.
In semi-presidential systems, the head of government may answer to both the head of state and the legislature,
with the specifics provided by each country's constitution. A modern example is the present French
government, which originated as the French Fifth Republic in 1958. In France, the president, the head of state,
appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government. However, the president must choose someone
who can act effectively as an executive, but who also enjoys the support of the France's legislature, the
National Assembly, to be able to pass legislation. In some cases, the head of state may represent one political
party but the majority in the National Assembly is of a different party. Given that the majority party has greater
control over state funding and primary legislation, the president is in effect forced to choose a prime minister
from the opposition party to ensure an effective, functioning legislature. In this case, known as cohabitation,
the prime minister, along with the cabinet, controls domestic policy, with the president's influence largely
restricted to foreign affairs.
In directorial systems, the executive responsibilities of the head of government are spread among a group of
people. A prominent example is the Swiss Federal Council, where each member of the council heads a
department and also votes on proposals relating to all departments.
Contents
Titles of respective heads of government
As political chief
Alternate English terms and renderings
Equivalent titles in other languages
Under a dominant head of state
Indirectly referred as the head of state
Combined heads of state and government
Parliamentary heads of government
Appointment
Removal
First among equals or dominating the cabinet?
Official residence
Statistics
See also
Notes and references
In addition to prime minister, titles used for the democratic model, where there is an elected legislative body
checking the Head of government, include the following. Some of these titles relate to governments below the
national level (e.g., states or provinces).
(translit. Wazīr-ē-Āzam
Pākistān/Pākistān Kē Wazīr-ē-Āzam), This is the term
used in India and Pakistan under the umbrella of Urdu,
the Hindi term being, पा क तानी धानम ी/पा क तान के
धानम ी (translit.Pākistānī Pradhānamantrī/Pākistān
Kē Pradhānamantrī)
Historically, various terms like Pradhānamantrī,
Pradhān, Pantapradhān, Sadr-ē-Riyāsat, Sadr, Wazīr-
ē-Āzam, Wazīr-ē-Ālā, Mahāmantrī, Wazīr-ē-Khazānā,
Pēśwā, Dīwān, Dīwān Sāhib, Dīwān Bahādur, Dīwān
Pramukh, Sadr-ul-Maham, Pantapramukh, Ālāmantrī,
etc. have been used by various Empires, Kingdoms
and Princely States of India as a title for the Prime
Minister, some of these titles were also used by the
sovereign of various kingdoms. The Prime Minister of India (Indira
Hungarian: Miniszterelnök Gandhi) and the President of the
Irish: Leader of Ireland: Taoiseach United States of America (Richard
Italian: Nixon) in 1971
In a broader sense, a head of government can be used loosely when referring to various comparable positions
under a dominant head of state (especially is the case of ancient or feudal eras, so the term "head of
government", in this case, could be considered a contradiction in terms). In this case, the prime minister serves
at the pleasure of the monarch and holds no more power than the monarch allows. Some such titles are diwan,
mahamantri, pradhan, wasir or vizier.
However, just because the head of state is the de jure dominant position does not mean that he/she will not
always be the de facto political leader. A skilled head of government like 19th-century German statesman Otto
von Bismarck, Minister President of Prussia and later Chancellor of Germany under Emperor/King Wilhelm I,
serves as an example showing that possession of formal powers does not equal political influence.
In some cases, the head of state is a figurehead whilst the head of the government leads the ruling party. In
some cases a head of government may even pass on the title in hereditary fashion. Such titles include the
following:
Mayor of the palace of the Merovingian kingdoms
Nawab wasir of the Mughal Empire (also governor of Awadh)
Peshwa of Satara and the Maratha empire
Shōgun in feudal Japan
Sultan in the original case of the Seljuk Turks who made the caliphs of Baghdad their puppets;
later both styles were often used for absolute rulers in Nepal
In some models the head of state and head of government are one and
the same. These include:
President (executive)
An absolute monarch reigning and ruling without a
separate principal minister
Chief magistrate
Führer (used in Nazi Germany for Adolf Hitler)
President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil
Supreme leader and President Christina Kirchner of
A State Governor in the United States (subnational Argentina in 2015.
executives)
An alternative formula is a single chief political body (e.g., presidium) which collectively leads the government
and provides (e.g. by turns) the ceremonial Head of state. The only state in which this system is currently
employed is Switzerland but other countries such as Uruguay have employed it in the past. This system is
described as the directorial system.
Sultan of Brunei
King of Saudi Arabia
The head of government — usually the leader of the majority party or coalition — forms the
government, which is answerable to parliament;
Full answerability of government to parliament is achieved through
The ability of parliament to pass a vote of no confidence.
The ability to vote down legislative proposals of the government.
Control over or ability to vote down fiscal measures and the budget (or supply); a
government is powerless without control of the state finances. In a bicameral system, it is
often the so-called lower house (e.g. the British House of Commons) that exercises the
major elements of control and oversight; however, in some (e.g. Australia, Italy), the
government is constitutionally or by convention answerable to both chambers/Houses of
Parliament.
All of these requirements directly impact the Head of
government's role. Consequently, they often play a 'day
to day' role in parliament, answering questions and
defending the government on the 'floor of the House',
while in semi-presidential systems they may not be
required to play as much of a role in the functioning of
parliament.
Appointment
Removal
Resignation, following:
Defeat in a general election.
Defeat in a leadership vote at their party caucus, to be replaced by another member of the
same party.
Defeat in a parliamentary vote on a major issue, e.g., loss of supply, loss of confidence. (In
such cases, a head of government may seek a parliamentary dissolution from the Head of
state and attempt to regain support by popular vote.)
Dismissal — some constitutions allow a Head of state (or their designated representative, as is
the case in some Commonwealth countries) to dismiss a Head of government, though its use
can be controversial, as occurred in 1975 when then Australian Governor-General, Sir John
Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in the Australian Constitutional Crisis.
Death — in this case, the deputy Head of government typically acts as the head of government
until a new head of government is appointed.
Constitutions differ in the range and scope of powers granted to the head of government. Some older
constitutions; for example, Australia's 1900 text, and Belgium's 1830 text; do not mention their prime
ministerial offices at all, the offices became a de facto political reality without a formal constitutional status.
Some constitutions make a Prime Minister primus inter pares (first among equals) and that remains the
practical reality for the Prime Minister of Belgium and the Prime Minister of Finland. Other states however,
make their head of government a central and dominant figure within the cabinet system; Ireland's Taoiseach,
for example, alone can decide when to seek a parliamentary dissolution, in contrast to other countries where
this is a cabinet decision, with the Prime Minister just one member voting on the suggestion. In Israel, while
the Government is nominally a collegiate body with a primus inter pares role for the Prime Minister, the Israeli
Prime Minister is the dominant figure in the executive branch in practice.[6] The Prime Minister of Sweden,
under the 1974 Instrument of Government, is a constitutional office with all key executive powers either
directly at his or her disposal or indirectly through the collegial Government, whose members are all appointed
and dismissed at the Prime Minister's sole discretion.
Under the unwritten British constitution, the Prime Minister's role has evolved, based often on the individual's
personal appeal and strength of character, as contrasted between, for example, Winston Churchill as against
Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher as against John Major. It is alleged that the increased personalisation of
leadership in a number of states has led to heads of government becoming themselves "semi-presidential"
figures, due in part to media coverage of politics that focuses on the leader and his or her mandate, rather than
on parliament; and to the increasing centralisation of power in the hands of the head of government. Such
allegations have been made against two recent British Prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
They were also made against Italian prime ministers Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Renzi, Canadian prime
minister Pierre Trudeau and Federal Chancellor of West Germany (later all of Germany), Helmut Kohl, when
in power.
Official residence
The head of government is often provided with an official residence, often in the same fashion as heads of
state often are. The name of the residence is often used as a metonym or alternative title for 'the government'
when the office is politically the highest, e.g. in the UK "Downing Street announced today…"
10 Downing Street in London — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (who also has a country
residence, Chequers)
The Lodge in Canberra — Prime Minister of Australia (with an additional residence, Kirribilli
House, in Sydney)
24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa — Prime Minister of Canada (who also has a country residence,
Harrington Lake)
Premier House in Wellington — Prime Minister of New Zealand
7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi — Prime Minister of India
Catshuis in The Hague — Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Ballhausplatz in Vienna — Chancellor of Austria
Zhongnanhai in Beijing — Premier of the People's Republic of China
Kantei in Tokyo — Prime Minister of Japan
Kramář's Villa in Prague — Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Chigi Palace in Rome — Prime Minister of Italy
Hôtel Matignon[7] in Paris— Prime Minister of France
Villa Parkowa in Warsaw— Prime Minister of Poland
Federal Chancellery in Berlin — Chancellor of Germany
The Lambermont in Brussels — Prime Minister of Belgium
Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid — President of the Government of Spain
Palacete de São Bento in Lisbon — Prime Minister of Portugal
Kesäranta in Helsinki — Prime Minister of Finland
Sager House in Stockholm — Prime Minister of Sweden (who also has a country residence,
Harpsund)
Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow — Prime Minister of Russia
Similarly, heads of government of federal entities below the level of the sovereign state (often without an
actual head of state, at least under international law) may also be given an official residence, sometimes used as
an opportunity to display aspirations of statehood:
Usually, the residence of the heads of government is not as prestigious and grand as that of the head of state,
even if the head of state only performs ceremonial duties. Even the formal representative of the head of state,
such as a governor-general, may well be housed in a grander, palace-type residence. However, this is not the
case when both positions are combined into one:
The White House (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue) in Washington, D.C. — President of the United
States of America
The Blue House (1 Sejongno Jongno-gu) in Seoul — President of South Korea
Istana Nurul Iman in Bandar Seri Begawan — Sultan of Brunei
Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília — President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
Statistics
As of mid-2011:
World's longest serving unelected head of government: Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al
Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain from 1971 to 2020.[8]
World's longest serving monarchical head of government: Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of
Sweden from 1946 to 1969 (23 years, 3 days).
World's longest serving republican head of government: Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of
Singapore from 1959 to 1990 (31 years, 178 days).
See also
Head of state
List of current heads of state and government
European Council
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
Chief executive officer and Chief operating officer
Power behind the throne
Éminence grise
Air transports of heads of state and government
Official Portraits (book)
World Leaders
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