Head of government

The head of government is the head of the government of a state (e.g. national or member state ). Usually he implements a large part of the political decisions of direction.

• In all presidential systems of government , the president unites the functions of head of state and head of government. A well-known example is the President of the USA .
• In semi-presidential systems of government power is often shared between a president and the head of government (chairman of the council of ministers, prime minister , prime minister ). Classic examples can be found in France with the strong position of the President of the Fifth Republic or Russia .
• In parliamentary systems of government , the functions of the head of state ( monarch , president ) and the head of government (prime minister, prime minister) are also divided, with the head of state primarily only responsible for representing the state internally and externally. For example, is in the United Kingdom, the Queen of the prime minister against or in Germany the Federal President of the Federal Chancellor , as the Austrian Federal President of the local Federal .
• In some countries, the head of state is also exercised by the parliamentary head of government. In such a system of parliamentary executive , this person also functions as head of state. An example of this are the prime ministers (or the ruling , first or Bremen mayor) of the German federal states .
• But there are also countries without an actual head of government. In Switzerland , the government consists of the members of the Federal Council , all of whom have equal status; The Federal President , as primus inter pares , ie “first among equals”, only performs additional representative tasks.
  See also : Directory system

The precise domestic political powers of the head of government vary in all government systems and are laid down in the constitutions of the respective countries. In the area of international relations , the head of government is usually the authorized representative of his country.

See also

• Head of State and Government

Web links

Wiktionary: Head of Government  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Literature on the subject of head of government in the catalog of the German National Library