Concept in Definition ABC

The term President was always used to designate the person who directs a meeting, an assembly or a session, although in recent times and more since the United States institutionalized the concept in its Constitution national, it is more recognized as the word that designates the person elected to hold the highest executive position in a country. And thanks to this also the concept has evolved for other organs u organisms public such as the Chamber of Deputies, Senators, Supreme Court of Justice, among others, or the top manager of a company, society, university or institution public or private, which also use the concept of president to designate their top managers.

While, the president of a country does not always have the same obligations and rights as his; This will depend on the type of government regime in which the country that elected him as president is located.. Likewise, the method of election of this authority depends on the structure politics and institutional of each State. Thus, in many modern nations, the office of president is defined by the universal vote of citizens of legal age. In contrast, in single-party political systems, the president is appointed within the framework of an internal agreement, as is the case in communist nations.

In the republican regime, the head of state is the head of the government as well; This highest authority is called the president, can be elected by popular vote, congress or parliament, and can last between 4 or 8 years, as appropriate. On many occasions, he is responsible for all executive decisions, such is the case in the United States and Argentina. In some countries, the president may be re-elected to continue serving as president; In general, this recourse to reelection is limited to a presidential term, to avoid the risk of perpetuation in power that seems antagonistic of the genuine republican spirit.

Meanwhile, in a parliamentary republic, the president will be in charge of appointing a premier or prime minister, in tune with parliament, but lacks any kind of executive function. In this context, he will only sign laws or decrees and may dissolve parliament, within the framework of a prior agreement with the prime minister. This government situation occurs very frequently in those countries that changed the monarchical regime for the republican one; In this context, England has been a nation pioneer, especially after the revolution 17th century. Many modern constitutional monarchies have adopted this strategy of government, as described in Spain.

And there is also the semi-presidential form of government, as is the case in France, where the president in addition to sharing some functions with the prime minister plays a critical role in national defense and relations exteriors.

On the other hand, in countries organized from a federal perspective, such as the United States, Argentina, Mexico or Brazil, each one of the states that are part of the union has its own government structure, depending on the power central. Besides of President with jurisdiction over the entire nation, these states have a governor whose At the local level, attributions are similar to those held by the president in terms of the entire federation.

It is worth noting that certain republican states do not have a president. This is the case of countries like Australia, a former British colony and a member of the Commonwealth. In this case, the nation recognizes the monarch of England as its "head of state", symbolically, but it is elected a prime minister by means of the suffrage of the inhabitants of the country to carry out a position analogous to that of President.

Finally, it is necessary to note that some dictatorships designate their leader by the name of "president", in an attempt to preserve formal aspects in the field of international politics. This is the case in different countries in Africa, as it was for different despotic regimes in other countries. parts of the world, such as Latin America, the former Soviet republics and some states of Asia and Middle East.