Minister of State
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A minister of state is subordinate to a minister, who heads a ministry. The minister covers the entire ministry and the minister of state assists and performs other functions as assigned by the minister.
High government ranks
In several national traditions, the title "Minister of State" is reserved for government members of
- Brazil: Minister of State (Portuguese: Ministro de Estado) is the title borne by all members of the Federal Cabinet.
- Chile: Minister of State (Spanish: Ministro de Estado) is the title borne by all heads of the Ministries.
- France: Under the Fifth Republic, Minister of State (Ministre d'État in French) is an honorific title bestowed upon nomination as a Minister. Ministres d'État, in the protocol, rank after the Prime Minister and before the other Ministers but enjoy no other specific prerogatives. Initially, the title of Ministres d'État didn't explicitly include a portfolio (a practice common under previous regimes), although in time both the title and a specific portfolio have since normally been conferred together. As under previous regimes, a series of Ministres d'État in the same cabinet may also reflect a balance between the different political trends in the ruling party (or within the ruling coalition). A Ministre d'État is not to be confused with a Secretary of State (Secrétaire d'État), a Junior minister assisting a Minister and who may only attend cabinet meeting if the topic discussed touches his responsibilities. Former Ministres d'État include former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
- Japan: Minister of State is the title borne by all members of the Japanese Cabinet.
- Kenya: A Minister of State generically refers to a more senior minister by virtue of the revenue power, or security implications of their ministry. For instance, ministries housed under the Office of the President, Office of the Deputy President and Office of the Prime Minister are titled as "Ministries of State for". Actual examples include Ministry of State for Internal Security and Provincial Administration; Ministry of State for Immigration; and Ministry of State for Public Service.[citation needed]
- Prime Minister. Unlike the title 'Prime Minister' (French: Premier ministre; Luxembourgish: Premier; German: Premierminister), which was instituted only in 1989, that of Minister of State has been held by the head of government since 1848. As Minister of State, his role is to control and coordinate the activities of the other Ministers.
- Prince of Monacoand responsible for enforcing its laws.
- Palau: The Minister of State of Palau is the minister responsible for foreign affairs and international trade.[1]
- Council of Ministers who holds a more distinct position within the cabinet, roughly equivalent to Deputy prime minister.
- Spain: When Adolfo Suárez was Prime Minister, Ministers of State were created who held a more distinct position within the Government. However, this initiative did not last since his successors did not follow this path.[2]
- Scandinavian states + Finland: The equivalent title statsminister is used for the head of government (i.e. the prime minister), and compound titles of which -minister is a part may be used for major-portfolio Ministers. For details on statsminister, see Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister of Denmark, Prime Minister of Norway, and Prime Minister of Finland.
- Turkey: A Minister of State (Turkish: Devlet Bakanı) was a post in Turkish cabinets between 1946 and 2011. It was possible to have more than one Minister of State in a single cabinet, responsible for different policy areas.
- United Kingdom: Normally a mid-level government role (see next section) but Lord Beaverbrook was nominally Minister of State from 1 May 1941 to 29 June 1941 while a member of the war cabinet. It has become regular practice for senior Ministers of State to be invited to attend cabinet on a regular basis at the Prime Minister's discretion, though they are not technically full members. However, more recently, some Ministers of State have been made full members of the Cabinet, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg when he served as Minister of State for Government Efficiency.
Minor government ranks
In various nations, especially in former members of the British Empire, "Minister of State" is a junior ministerial rank, often subordinated to a cabinet member.
- Ministers of State in Canada
- Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.
- cabinet minister. Moreover, such ministers can take part in cabinet meetings on important issues unlike Ministers of state who does not take any part in any cabinet meetings.
- Parliamentary Secretary.
- Nigerian Cabinet and is normally the principal deputy or one of the deputies to the Minister in a Federal Ministry. The Minister of State may in some cases be the head of a special department in the President's Office. By law, both senior Ministers and Ministers of State are regarded as Ministers of the Government of the Federation.
- Pakistan: Like in other former British colonies, a Minister of State in Pakistan is a junior Minister in the national Government who may assist a cabinet minister or have independent charge of a ministry.[3]
- Deputy Minister.
- Singapore: Ministers of State and Senior Ministers of State are members of the executive branch of the Government of Singapore, senior in rank to Parliamentary Secretaries and Senior Parliamentary Secretaries, but junior to full Cabinet Ministers.
- Turkmengas, holds the rank of Minister of State, and is included in the Cabinet of Ministers.
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- Ministerial Code.
Subnational office
In the republic of
Other uses
Australia
- Australia: Section 64 of the Commonwealth constitution empowers the Governor-General to appoint "the Queen's Ministers of State for the Commonwealth [of Australia]" as "officers to administer such departments of State of the Commonwealth as the Governor‑General in Council may establish". The Ministers of State Act 1952 defines the number of ministers only distinguishes between ministers and parliamentary secretaries (now known as assistant ministers). However, in practice ministers of state are divided into the Cabinet and the outer ministry.[4] The only ministerial portfolio to have the term "minister of state" in the title is Special Minister of State.
Netherlands and Belgium
In the Netherlands (Minister van Staat in Dutch) and Belgium (also Ministre d'État in French), Ministers of State is a title of honour awarded formally by the Monarch, but on the initiative of the government. It is given on a personal basis, for life rather than for a specified period. The title is granted for exceptional merits, generally to senior politicians at the end of their party career. Ministers of state are often former cabinet members or party leaders. Ministers of State advise the Sovereign in delicate situations, with moral authority but without formal competence.
In
In both countries, junior ministers are called
New Zealand
- To bestow a Rob Muldoonoriginally created the position in 1975.
- To create a sort of junior minister — using this office, politicians can be appointed to associate roles without having a substantive ministerial role of their own. There is no formal rank of "assistant minister" or "deputy minister" in New Zealand, but if someone is a full minister, they can be assigned to an associate role helping a different full minister. Someone appointed Minister of State is technically a full minister and can thus be assigned associate roles, thereby creating a type of minister whose only effective authority is as an associate minister.
The first Minister of State in New Zealand was Keith Holyoake, a former Prime Minister. Other prominent people to have held the office include Jim Bolger and Robin Gray (a former Prime Minister and a former Speaker, respectively). Examples of people who held the office simply in order that they might be appointed as associate ministers include Mita Ririnui, Damien O'Connor, and Dover Samuels.
Ancien Régime France
In
Suppressed during the French Revolution, the title "ministre d'État" reappeared during the Bourbon Restoration as essentially an honorary title given (not systematically) to Ministers after their demission or their departure from office; refusal on behalf of the King to award this title to a demissioned Minister was seen as an affront.
British diplomacy
From 28 January 1944, the last two British
See also
References
- ^ "Ministry of State – PalauGov.pw".
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
- ^ Pakistan Federal Cabinet Archived 2007-03-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ministers of State Act 1952". Federal Register of Legislation.