President

From ArticleWorld

A president is the head of an organization, company, university or country.

Presidents as heads of state

When the USA called the leader of its newly founded republic in 1798 the ‘President’, it established a precedent that was soon followed by the newly emerging republics of South America. The President of France was the first European president in 1848 and the Philippines and Liberia were the first in Asia and Africa, respectively. The title is popular today as the head of state of a republic and most countries have Presidents at their helms nowadays.

In the presidential system of government, the president is the head of government as well as the head of state and as such is very powerful. A parliamentary system on the other hand is composed of a president as a head of state only and a prime minister as the head of government. In this system, a president’s role is mostly ceremonial though they usually have some influence. Under a third system, the semi-presidential, there is again a President and a Prime Minister but this time the president has some powers the scope of which depends on whether the two are friends or foes.

The title of president may also be adopted by dictators who sometimes go one step further and appoint themselves Presidents for Life. A few modern republics have no head of state as such and are governed by a collective presidency as is the case in Switzerland.

Non-governmental presidents

Presidents are also visible at the head of organizations, clubs and committees – political and non. Chess clubs, students unions and Chambers of Commerce are all fronted by a president. In France, the president of court is the chief judge of several and as such acts as the chairman.