Head of state


A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state. The name given to the office of head of state depends on the country's form of government and any separation of powers; the powers of the office in each country range from being also the head of government to being little more than a ceremonial figurehead.
In a parliamentary system, such as India or the United Kingdom, the head of state usually has mostly ceremonial powers, with a separate head of government. However, in some parliamentary systems, like South Africa, there is an executive president that is both head of state and head of government. Likewise, in some parliamentary systems the head of state is not the head of government, but still has significant powers, for example Morocco. In contrast, in other parliamentary systems such as Sweden and Japan, the head of state is purely ceremonial without any meaningful power.
Meanwhile, in presidential systems, the head of state is also the head of government. In a semi-presidential system, such as France, elements of the presidential and parliamentary systems are combined, with separate heads of state and government who officially exercise executive power alongside each other. In practice, the two usually divide power among themselves, with the actual distribution of power resembling a parliamentary or presidential system depending on which leader enjoys greater influence and public confidence.
In one-party systems such as communist states, the position of president rarely has tangible powers by itself; however, since such a head of state, as a matter of custom, simultaneously holds the nominal post of party leader, they are the executive leader with their powers deriving from that post, rather than the office of president.
Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, said that the head of state should embody l'esprit de la nation.

Constitutional models

Some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of "models".
An independent nation state normally has a head of state, and determines the extent of its head's executive powers of government or formal representational functions. In terms of protocol: the head of a sovereign, independent state is usually identified as the person who, according to that state's constitution, is the reigning monarch, in the case of a monarchy; or the president, in the case of a republic.
Among the state constitutions that establish different political systems, four major types of heads of state can be distinguished:
  1. The parliamentary system, with two subset models;
  2. # The standard model, in which the head of state, in theory, possesses key executive powers, but such power is exercised on the binding advice of a head of government.
  3. # The non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role.
  4. The semi-presidential system, in which the head of state shares key executive powers with a head of government or cabinet ; and
  5. The presidential system, in which the head of state is also the head of government and has all executive powers.
In a federal constituent or a dependent territory, the same role is typically fulfilled by the holder of an office corresponding to that of a head of state. For example, in each Canadian province the role is fulfilled by the lieutenant governor, whereas in most British Overseas Territories the powers and duties are performed by the governor. The same applies to Australian states, Indian states, etc. Hong Kong's constitutional document, the Basic Law, for example, specifies the chief executive as the head of the special administrative region, in addition to their role as the head of government. These non-sovereign-state heads, nevertheless, have a restricted or negligible role in diplomatic affairs, depending on the status and the norms and practices of the territories concerned, while in other instances, like Germany, the non-sovereign federal constituents lack a clearly defined post analogous to a head of state, with the speakers of the Landtags fulfilling many of the same duties without an explicit constitutional basis for such a role.

Parliamentary system

Standard model

In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the nominal chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state, and possessing limited executive power. In reality, however, following a process of constitutional evolution, powers are usually only exercised by direction of a cabinet, presided over by a head of government who is answerable to the legislature. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature. It also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. The executive branch is thus said to be responsible to the legislature, with the head of government and cabinet in turn accepting constitutional responsibility for offering constitutional advice to the head of state.
File:REUNIÓN CON EL REY DE NORUEGA HARALD V Y HAAKON MAGNUS, PRÍNCIPE HEREDERO DE NORUEGA. OSLO, 10 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2025. .jpg|left|thumb|upright|King Harald V of Norway
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 ; likewise, Edward VIII's abdication required the approval of each of the six independent realms of which he was monarch. In monarchies with a written constitution, the position of monarch is created under the constitution and could be abolished through a democratic procedure of constitutional amendment. In many cases there are significant procedural hurdles imposed on such a procedure.
In republics with a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually titled president and the principal functions of such presidents are mainly ceremonial and symbolic, as opposed to the presidents in a presidential or semi-presidential system.
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. Usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament.
For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and then the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, but not required by law.
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 Leopold 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. The Belgian constitutional crisis in 1990, when the head of state refused to sign into law a bill permitting abortion, was resolved by the cabinet assuming the power to promulgate the law while he was treated as "unable to reign" for twenty-four hours.

Non-executive model

These officials 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 Constitution of Japan was drawn up under the Allied occupation that followed World War II and was intended to replace the previous militaristic and quasi-absolute monarchy system with a form of liberal democracy parliamentary system. The constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people", and is generally recognised throughout the world as the Japanese head of state. Although the emperor formally appoints the prime minister to office, article 6 of the constitution requires him to appoint the candidate "as designated by the Diet", without any right to decline appointment. Perhaps the most explicit reference comes in article 7, which states the emperor "perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in this constitution and shall have not have powers related to government". He is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan.
Since the passage in Sweden of the 1974 Instrument of Government, the Swedish monarch no longer has many of the standard parliamentary system head of state functions that had previously belonged to him or her, as was the case in the preceding 1809 Instrument of Government. Today, the speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister and terminates their commission following a vote of no confidence or voluntary resignation. Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. Laws and ordinances are promulgated by two Cabinet members in unison signing "On Behalf of the Government" and the government—not the monarch—is the high contracting party with respect to international treaties. The remaining official functions of the sovereign, by constitutional mandate or by unwritten convention, are to open the annual session of the Riksdag, receive foreign ambassadors and sign the letters of credence for Swedish ambassadors, chair the foreign advisory committee, preside at the special Cabinet council when a new prime minister takes office, and to be kept informed by the prime minister on matters of state.
In contrast, the only contact the president of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, the president has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality, which are used under the president's discretion.
The most extreme non-executive republican head of state is the president of Israel, which holds no reserve powers whatsoever. The least ceremonial powers held by the president are to provide a mandate to attempt to form a government, to approve the dissolution of the Knesset made by the prime minister, and to pardon criminals or to commute their sentence.