Minister (government): Difference between revisions

A minister is a politician who holds public office in a national or regional government, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. Some ministers are more senior than others, and are usually members of the government's cabinet. In some countries the head of government is designated the "prime minister". In Commonwealth realm countries which have adopted the Westminster system, ministers are usually required to be members of one of houses of Parliament. Ministers are usually heads of a Ministry or government department.

Etymology

In some countries and territories — such as Hong Kong, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States — holders of an equivalent cabinet-level post are called Secretaries (e.g., the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom).

The term "minister" is also used in diplomacy with the quite different meaning of second-level diplomats (heads of legations). The term minister comes from Middle English, deriving from the Old French word ministre, originally minister in Latin, meaning "servant, attendant", which itself was derived from the word 'minus' meaning "less".^[1]

Selection

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In some parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government, ministers or their equivalents are selected from the legislature (United Kingdom, Australia), while in others with strict separation of powers, ministers cannot be members of the legislature (Belgium, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, United States); a legislator chosen to become a cabinet minister resigns from the legislature. Normally the leader of the majority party becomes the prime minister and selects the other ministers. In the Westminster system, these ministers continue to represent their constituency in parliament while being part of the government. Often, a person from the outside may be appointed minister, usually in order to bring special skills to the government. Such a person would not have to be part of the parliament while serving as minister, nor would he/she necessarily be a member of the party/parties in government.

In some presidential systems of government (Mexico, Philippines, United States), ministers are formally titled secretaries because the term minister was considered to carry royalist connotations considered inappropriate in a republic.

Types of ministers and name

Various countries form ministries as Cabinets. Compare List of cabinets. Other cabinets are usually included in Politics of ..-articles

• Lists of incumbents groups lists of ministers by country

Specific ministers include:

Some ministers may hold multiple portfolios and lead several ministries simultaneously, while multiple ministers with separate portfolios may oversee a single ministry, or may also share both ministerial and deputy-ministerial portfolios in different ministries. A cabinet minister may not be in charge of any ministry, and is then known as a "minister without portfolio".

See also

• Minister of the Crown
• Ministry (government department)
• Ministry (collective executive)

References

External links