Secretary of state

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The title secretary of state or state's secretary[note 1] is commonly used for senior or mid-level posts in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple secretaries of state in the country's system of governing the country.

In many countries, a secretary of state is a senior or mid-level post. It is usually a politically appointed position, although in some countries, such as

cardinal secretary of state coordinates all the departments of the Roman Curia (and is in that respect equivalent to a prime minister
).

The

secretaries
in most other nations.

The term secretary of state originated in early 17th century England.

Africa

Orange Free State

In the Orange Free State (1854–1902) the Secretary of State was the original title of the main administrative officer of the State, who worked closely with both the State President as head of state and head of government, and his cabinet, and with the Volksraad, the parliament of the Orange Free State. The title of State Secretary was replaced by that of Government Secretary soon after the formation of the state apparatus and was thereafter never used again.

Portuguese-speaking African countries

The organization of the governments of

São Tome and Príncipe closely mirrors the Portuguese government model. Thus, in these countries, a Secretary of State (Portuguese
: secretário de Estado) is a junior minister, subordinate to a cabinet minister. Usually, the secretaries of State do not participate in the council of ministers.

In Mozambique, the role of vice-minister (Portuguese: vice-ministro) exists as an intermediate government rank between those of minister and Secretary of State. The role of vice-minister also exists in the Government of Angola, but it is junior to that of Secretary of State.

South African Republic

In the

State President as head of state and head of government, and the parliament of the South African Republic
.

Liberia

In Liberia, from 1847 until 1972, the Secretary of State was the head of the Department of State and the chief foreign policy officer of the republic, responsible for conducting diplomacy and implementing the nation's foreign affairs. The title was abolished in 1972 and replaced with the new nomenclature, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Throughout most of Liberia's history, holders of that office usually went on to become president.

The Americas

Argentina

The Secretary of State (Secretario de Estado) in Argentina (federal government) is a high official with the same rank of a Minister, who is responsible directly to the President. The position must be distinguished from a "Secretary", a lower position, responsible to a Minister.

The official responsible for foreign policy is called Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores) or "Chancellor" (Canciller).

Brazil

In

State Governor. At state level, the Brazilian secretaries of State have functions similar to those of the Ministers of the Federal Government
.

At federal level, the officer responsible for foreign affairs, a position equivalent to that of the United States Secretary of State, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Canada

The

Ministers of State
, however Ministers are members of the cabinet.

Mexico

In

Mexican Executive Cabinet who responds to the president of the Republic
.

United States

Federal government

Main article: United States Secretary of State

In the United States federal government, "Secretary of State" refers to the official responsible for executing the non-military and non-homeland security aspects of foreign policy, the analogue of the foreign secretary or

foreign minister of a country that has one or the other. The U.S. secretary of state is head of the United States Department of State
. The secretary of state is responsible for the administration of United States embassies and their subsidiary units throughout the world.

The U.S. secretary of state has the power to remove any foreign diplomat from U.S. soil for any reason.

Six secretaries of state became presidents (

George Marshall, Elihu Root, and Henry Kissinger
).

The now long-established terms "Department ..." and "Secretary of State" were preceded (for two months following the effective date of the

Constitution
) by the narrower title
Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the corresponding departmental name; the change reflected the addition of some miscellaneous domestic responsibilities.[1]

The position is widely regarded as the most senior in the

Cabinet. In the presidential line of succession the secretary of state falls first among Cabinet officers, and fourth overall. The secretary of state is also, in protocol, the first Cabinet member in the order of precedence
, immediately preceding any former presidents and former first ladies, who are followed by the rest of the Cabinet.

State government

Main article:
Secretary of State (U.S. state government)

In most of the individual

secretary of state is an elected office that acts as the equivalent of a lieutenant governor in other states among many other duties. In three states (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia), the position is called "Secretary of the Commonwealth", since these states as well as Kentucky are called "commonwealth" instead of "state". In Connecticut, this office is called the "Secretary of the State". In three states (Alaska, Hawaii and Utah
), there is no secretary of state.

Asia

Indonesia

In

bills
and/or Governmental regulations.

Kuwait

The Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Sheikh

Muhammad Al-Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, is in charge of international relations of Kuwait, and all Kuwaiti representatives abroad. Al-Sabah is a member of the cabinet of ministers, and reports directly to Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, The Emir of Kuwait. He is also in charge of all the diplomatic representatives in Kuwait
.

Malaysia

Main article:
Chief Secretary to the Government

In Malaysia, Chief Secretary to the Government is the Malaysian secretary of state.

However, every state in Malaysia have their own State Secretary, except federal territories. Secretary of State is the member of the State Executive Council, appointed by the

Yang DiPertuan Besar; and Perlis
, appointed by the (Raja of Perlis). The State Secretary is the head of the public service in his/her state.

Timor-Leste

Following the

Timor-Leste, a Secretary of State (Sekretáriu Estadu in Tetum, Secretário de Estado in Portuguese
) is a junior minister, subordinate to a cabinet minister. Despite being members of the Government, the Secretaries of State usually do not participate in the Council of Ministers, unless they are specially summoned for and, in this case, without right to vote.

Europe

Belgium

As in

Dutch-speaking ministers, with the prime minister being officially "linguistically asexual").[2] Therefore, appointing people as secretaries of state allows the government to circumvent this constitutional limitation. See Current list of secretaries of states for Belgian Federal Government
.

There are also three secretaries of state in the

government of the Brussels-Capital Region
, one of whom has to be Flemish.

Estonia

The secretary of state (Riigisekretär) directs the

into exile until the position came back to Estonia in 1992.[3]

Finland

A state secretary (Finnish: valtiosihteeri), is the highest official below each minister. Ministers, who lead ministries (government departments), comprise the Finnish Government. Each state secretary is appointed for the term of the minister and is responsible to the minister.

This is a new arrangement; during the introduction of this model, a secretary was called "political state secretary" (poliittinen valtiosihteeri). In contrast, previously only two ministries, Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, used to have state secretaries, who were permanently appointed. One such example is Raimo Sailas [fi].

France

In France, a Secretary of State (Secrétaire d'État) is a junior minister, responsible to a minister or the Prime Minister. It is not to be confused with the Minister of State title given to a senior French cabinet minister of particular importance.

Under the

governmental ministers
.

Germany

Main article: Parliamentary State Secretary

The German Staatssekretär is a Beamter (civil servant) who ranks second only to the minister in a state or federal ministry, so the position is equivalent to that of Permanent secretary in the United Kingdom, not to that of a U.K. Secretary of State. While officially it is not a political office, often it is assigned by appointment based on political criteria such as party affiliation,[4] rather than by career progression as a civil servant. Nevertheless, Staatssekretäre function as the administrative heads of ministries. They depend on the full confidence of their respective ministers and can at any time be posted into provisional retirement with their pension paid in full. This happens usually when the government or the minister changes. De facto such a provisional retirement is lifelong.

A special case is the

investigation into visa abuse, Ludger Volmer [de
] claimed that he had been cut off from the workflow within the ministry, and called the Staatsminister office an "Unding" (absurdity).

In 1998, chancellor

Christina Weiss (2002–2005), Bernd Neumann (2005-2013), Monika Grütters (2013-2021) and Claudia Roth
(since 2021).

Greece

In Greece, the title "Secretary of State" (

modern Greek state. It was first employed for the head of the cabinet under the governorship of Ioannis Kapodistrias, a post held successively by Spyridon Trikoupis (1828–29) and Nikolaos Spiliadis [el] (1829–31). It was then abandoned, until used instead of the title of "Minister" (Υπουργός) for the cabinet members in the 1835–37 Cabinet of Josef Ludwig von Armansperg
, with Armansperg being designated "Chief Secretary of State" (Αρχιγραμματεύς της Επικρατείας).

Holy See

The

Secretariat of State, which is the most important dicastery of the Roman Curia, as it organizes, makes appointments to, and directs the activities of the other dicasteries.[5]
The secretariat is also responsible for the Holy See's foreign relations.[5] During a sede vacante, the former Secretary of State (the appointment expires when the pope dies or resigns) assumes some of the functions of the head of state as a part of a temporary commission.[6]

Luxembourg

first Juncker-Asselborn cabinet, there was one Secretary of State, Octavie Modert
, who is responsible for Relations with Parliament; Agriculture, Viticulture, and Rural Development; and Culture, Higher Education, and Research. There had been two in the previous cabinet, and three between 1984 and 1989.

Netherlands

As in France and Belgium, a

State Secretary
in the Netherlands is a junior minister who is responsible to a Cabinet Minister or the Prime Minister. Some of them may, in specific circumstances, call themselves Minister when visiting a foreign country. Each State Secretary has a certain portfolio, different then their Cabinet Minister, too split up the responsibilities and relieve the workload.

The top civil servant in a government department is called Secretary-General (secretaris-generaal).

Norway

Main article: State Secretary (Norway)

A statssekretær in Norway plays more or less the same role as the

Swedish equivalent
. Secretaries of State are connected to specific ministry, and serve as a de facto vice minister. However, the State Secretary cannot attend a Council of State and the only minister is constitutionally responsible for all the statssekretær's decisions in office.

Portugal

In

Council of Ministers, unless summoned for certain meetings and, in those cases, without right to vote. They act merely as deputies of ministers, having only the powers delegated to them by their ministers or directly by the prime minister
.

Until the reorganization of the Portuguese Public Administration structure in 2004, it was common for a secretary of State to be in charge of a secretariat of State (Portuguese: secretaria de Estado), a Government department with a status below that of a ministry. A secretariat of State could be organized as a division of a ministry or occasionally be directly subordinate to the Prime Minister. For example, from 1987 to 1995, a Secretariat of State for the Culture existed directly subordinate to the Prime Minister. Despite this type of departament no longer officially existing in the organization of the Portuguese Government, it is still common usage for the portfolio of a secretary of State to be colloquially referred to as a "secretariat of State".

Historically, since the 17th century, the title of "secretary of State" was used to designate the heads of the Government departments of Portugal. In the 19th century, the title of "minister" started to be used, the official complete title of each of the ministers becoming "minister and secretary of State of a given portfolio" until the end of the Monarchy in 1910. From them on, the title "minister" completely replaced that of "secretary of State" (with the exception of the brief presidential system that existed during 1918, in which the ministers were re-titled "secretaries of State"). In 1958, the title of "secretary of State" was reintroduced to designate the then created role of a junior minister, subordinate to a cabinet minister.

Russia

The position of State Secretary (Russian: Статс-секретарь, romanized: Stats-sekretar or Russian: Государственный секретар, romanized: Gosudarstvennyj sekretar) has existed at certain periods of time. Boris Yeltsin revived the post in 1991.

San Marino

In the Republic of San Marino a Secretary of State is a senior Cabinet Minister in charge of a State Department. The Secretary of State is a member of the Council of Ministers (Congresso di Stato).

Spain

In present-day organisation of the

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
.

From 1715 to 1834 the Secretarios de Estado y del Despacho were the heads of different government departments. The Secretary of State usually served as Chief Minister (See List of prime ministers of Spain).

Sweden

Main article:
State Secretary (Sweden)

In Sweden, a State Secretary (Swedish: Statssekreterare) is a political appointee, second in rank to the Minister (Swedish: Statsråd) in charge of the ministry. Unlike ministers, state secretaries are not members of the cabinet. Typically, there is one State Secretary assigned for each minister in the cabinet, and two for the prime minister. For historical reasons, the State Secretary in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has another title (Swedish: Kabinettssekreterare, in English literally "Cabinet Secretary"). State secretaries tend to, more often than the ministers do, hail from a fixed civil servant background or a professional background relevant to the area of responsibility that belongs to their respective ministries.

Switzerland

In the

Swiss Federal Council on heads of federal offices whose duties entail independent interaction with senior foreign authorities (cf. article 46 of the Government and Administration Organisation Act[7]
). In practice, the function of a secretary of state is the same as in France.

United Kingdom

Historical origin

Main article: Secretary of State (England)

In the

Queen Elizabeth I
(1558–1603), the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary. From 1540 there were sometimes two such secretaries.

From 1660 there were always two secretaries of state, between whom oversight of foreign affairs was divided on a geographical basis while domestic affairs were shared: the

Under Secretary came into use over the same period.[8]

The United Kingdom was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801. By a gradual process between then and the 1960s, most of the ministers of the British cabinet became secretaries of state.

Modern role

Main article: Secretary of State (United Kingdom)

In the United Kingdom, a secretary of state is a senior

Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, and are responsible, along with other Cabinet members, for the collective government of the United Kingdom. There are a number of secretaries of state, each of whom are formally titled "His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for ..."; legislation generally refers only to "the Secretary of State".[9]

Notes

  1. ^ This and many other government and judiciary titles are often capitalized in government documents in violation of the much more common rule in English to capitalize titles only before a name (see e.g. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., 2017, sec. 8.19, 8.22), when it in fact becomes part of the name. Therefore lowercase spelling is the first or only variant recorded in some major dictionaries such as the American Heritage Dictionary, the Oxford Online Dictionaries[dead link], and the Random House Dictionary.

References

  1. ^ "Frequently asked questions – Office of the Historian". Office of the Historian, United States Department of State. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  2. ^ "The federal government | Belgium.be". www.belgium.be. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Avaleht | Riigikantselei". www.riigikantselei.ee. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  4. doi:10.1093/jopart/mux041
    .
  5. ^ a b Pope John Paul II (28 June 1988). "Pastor Bonus". The Holy See. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  6. ^ Pope John Paul II (22 February 1996). "Universi Dominici Gregis". The Holy See. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Fedlex". www.fedlex.admin.ch. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  8. ^ Sainty, J. C. (1973). "Introduction". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2 - Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782. University of London. pp. 1–21 – via British History Online. At the Restoration [in 1660] the practice of appointing two Secretaries of State, which was well established before the Civil War, was resumed. Apart from the modifications which were made necessary by the occasional existence of a third secretaryship, the organisation of the secretariat underwent no fundamental change from that time until the reforms of 1782 which resulted in the emergence of the Home and Foreign departments. ... English domestic affairs remained the responsibility of both Secretaries throughout the period. In the field of foreign affairs there was a division into a Northern and a Southern Department, each of which was the responsibility of one Secretary. The distinction between the two departments emerged only gradually. It was not until after 1689 that their names passed into general currency. Nevertheless the division of foreign business itself can, in its broad outlines, be detected in the early years of the reign of Charles II. ... The first question to be considered in the light of the memorandum of 1684 is the origin of the office of Under Secretary. It should be emphasised in this connection that the term 'Under Secretary', although found in use as early as 1672, (fn. 28) passed only gradually into general currency.
  9. ^ "Draft Cabinet Manual" (PDF). Cabinet Office. 14 December 2010. p. 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2011.

External links

Media related to Secretaries of state at Wikimedia Commons

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