Head of state

A head of state or chief of state is an individual who serves as the chief public representative of a nation-state, federation or commonwealth. 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.

Roles of the head of state

Depending on which category (above) a head of state belongs to, they may have some or all of the roles listed below.

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Chief diplomatic officer

• The head of state accredits his or her country's ambassadors, through sending formal Letters of Credence to other heads of state. Without that accreditation, ipso facto an ambassador does not take up a role and receive diplomatic status.
• He or she receives Letters of Credence, sent by other heads of state accrediting his/her ambassador to the state.
• He or she signs international treaties on behalf of the state, or has them signed in his/her name by ministers.

::Example: under the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (constitution), Article 59 (1) states -

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:::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.

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Chief executive officer

In the vast 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 theoretically exercised by the head of state but in practice exercised on the advice of the prime minister or cabinet. 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, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. The few exceptions include the Republic of Ireland, where executive authority is explicitly vested in the cabinet, and Sweden. The head of state may also be described, although, again, in parliamentary systems this is only a notional designation, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Related Topics:
Executive authority - De facto - Australia - Austria - Canada - Denmark - France - Italy - United Kingdom - Republic of Ireland - Sweden

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::Example 1 (presidential system): Article 2, Section 1 of the United States Constitution states:

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:::The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.

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::Example 2 (Victorian era constitutional monarchy): Under Chapter II, Section 61 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900:

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:::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.

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::Example 3 (mid-20th century constitutional monarchy): According to Section 12 of the Constitution of Denmark 1953:

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:::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.

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::Example 4 (modern republican parliamentary system): According to Article 26 (2) of the 1975 Constitution of Greece:

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:::The executive power shall be exercised by the President of the Republic and by the government.

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Chief appointments officer

• He or she appoints all the key officials in the state, including members of the cabinet, the prime minister (if there is one), key judicial figures and all major office holders. In most parliamentary systems the prime minister is appointed with the consent of the legislature, and other figures are appointed on the prime minister's advice. Some countries have exceptions - 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, this decision is often a formality. The last time a United Kingdom monarch actually had a choice over who to pick to be prime minister occurred in 1963, when Queen Elizabeth II chose Alec Douglas-Home to succeed Harold Macmillan. In presidential systems such as that of the United States, appointments are nominated by the president's sole discretion, and this nomination if often subject to parliamentary confirmation (in the case of the U.S., the U.S. Senate has to approve cabinet nominees and judicial appointments by simple majority).
• He or she may dismiss office-holders. In parliamentary systems, this is only done on the binding advice of another office-holder; for example, members of the Irish cabinet are dismissed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach (prime minister). In some instances, the head of state may be able to dismiss an office holder themselves. Many heads of state or their representatives have the theoretical power to dismiss any office-holder while it is exceptionally rarely used. Its use is sometimes controversial, such as when the Australian Governor-General dismissed the prime minister during the 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis. In France, while the president cannot force the prime minister to tender the resignation of his government, he in practice can 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 U.S., 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:

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:::The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the consent of the National Assembly.

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::Example 2 (parliamentary system): Article 13.1.1 of the Constitution of Ireland:

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:::The President shall, on the nomination of Dáil Éireann , appoint the Taoiseach .

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Signing bills into law

Most states require that all bills passed by the house or houses of the legislature are signed into law by the head of state. In some states, such as the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the head of state is in fact formally considered a tier of parliament. In presidential systems the head of state often has power to veto a bill. In most parliamentary systems, however, the head of state cannot refuse to sign a bill, but may, in granting a bill their assent, nevertheless indicate that it was passed in accordance with the correct procedures. The signing of a bill into law is formally known as promulgation. Some Commonwealth of Nations states call this procedure granting the Royal Assent.

Related Topics:
Bill - Promulgation - Commonwealth of Nations - Royal Assent

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::Example 1 (presidential system): Article 1, Section 7 of the United States Constitution states:

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:::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.

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::Example 2 (parliamentary system): Section 11.a.1. of the Basic Laws of Israel states:

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:::The President of the State shall sign every Law, other than a Law relating to its powers.

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In some parliamentary systems the head of state retains certain powers, in relation to bills, that they may exercise at their discretion. They may have authority to:

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• 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 is used).
• Refer a bill to the courts to test its constitutionality (e.g. the President of Ireland)
• Refer a bill to the people in a referendum (e.g. the President of Ireland may do so in certain circumstances).

Supreme commander of the military

• A head of state is generally the notional or literal commander-in-chief of a state's armed forces, holding the highest office in all military chains of command.

Example: Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states:

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:::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.

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• In military dictatorships, or governments which have arisen from coups-de-état, this position is obvious, as all authority in such a government derives from the application of military force.

Summoning and dissolving the legislature

• A head of state is often empowered to summon and dissolve the legislature. In most parliamentary systems, this is done on the advice of the prime minister or cabinet. In some parliamentary systems, and in some presidential systems, the head of state may on their own initiative do so. Some states, however, 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 fixed terms, but the head of state retains authority to dissolve the legislature in certain circumstances. Where a prime minister has lost the confidence of parliament, some states allow the head of state to refuse a parliamentary dissolution, where one is requested, forcing the prime minister's resignation.

::Example: Article 13.2.2. of the Constitution of Ireland states:

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:::The President may in absolute discretion refuse to dissolve Dáil Éireann on the advice of a Taoiseach who has ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann

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