The United States President is called “President” Bush in the media.
The leader of Iran at one time was the Ayatolla Khomeni? However, Ayatollah (sp?) was not his first name.
Is “Saddam” Hussein a title, “Saddam” being a title, or his first name? I’ve beem told that “Saddam” is a title, yet, I’ve seen him referred to as the President, Saddam Hussein.
I know this may sound silly to those more knowledgeable than I, but I’m really curious - is it a title, or a name?
Please don’t laugh at me…
“Saddam”, IIRC, is his “cognomen”, his name-to-be-known-by, assumed at some time in his life; his “birth” name being someting like just plain ol’ “Hussein of Tikrit”.
Thank you - so much!!! God, I love this place! 
BTW, dictionary.com defines Ayatollah as:
and this online biog says his name was Ruhollah ibn Mustafa Musawi Khomeini Hindi.
But to his friends he was always “Rudy from the Block”.
Saddam was “President of Iraq” under the fiction that they had a republic; that was his title. Khomeini was never officially in a leadership position in the Islamic Republic of Iran; he was a religious leader who was instrumental in bringing about the, pardon the expression, regime change. The name of the first Premier of Iran was the similar-looking but different sounding Khamenei.
FWIW, countries with Presidential or mixed government usually place most of the executive power in a man who is (in Presidential governments) both head of government and head of state and is called “President” – in mixed governments, he is head of state only but has substantial power. In Parliamentary governments, the head of state is either a monarch or a figurehead President, but the head of the government is a man variously known as Prime Minister, Premier, Chancellor, etc., who is leader of the party with the majority in the country’s legislature and holds the real political power.
Interesting. I have always wondered about countries that have both a Prime Minister and a President, or a President and a Chancellor, etc. What is the difference between being head of government and being head of state? Could Saddam just as easily have dubbed himself Prime Minister or Chancellor of Iraq?
Saddam was already the head of state as well as the head of government, so calling himself the “prime minister” or “chancellor” would have amounted to claiming an inferior additional title.
Every nation whose government is headed by a prime minister also has a head of state who is either a monarch or a president. (There can be some variation on the titles–for example, a prime minister is sometimes called a chancellor or a premier–but the concept is the same by whatever names the prime minister and head of state are called.) See Central Intelligence Agency, Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments; Governments on the WWW: Heads of State.
Some heads of state also head the government: the most familiar example may be the President of the United States, who plays both roles. But no prime minister is also the head of state.
The prime minister always runs the government’s day-to-day business and presides over the other ministers who collectively run the executive branch, but his or her powers and role with respect to the head of state vary widely. When the head of state is a constitutional monarch, such as the British sovereign, the prime minister is almost always the leader of a majority in the national legislature, and is the de facto ruler even though formally the monarch appoints and can dismiss the prime minister. See The Queen And The Prime Minister. When the head of state is a president directly elected by the people, such as France’s president, then the prime minister is clearly subordinate to the president. See France has both a president and a prime minister. When the head of state is appointed by the legislature, as in Israel, then the role is often almost purely ceremonial.
The head of state throughout the Commonwealth (formerly the British Commonwealth) is the Crown but, outside the United Kingdom, the Crown is ordinarily represented by a domestic officer called the governor-general, who is formally appointed by the Crown but as a practical matter is named by the domestic government. A governor-general’s role is analogous to the crown’s: he or she “reigns but does not rule,” and his or her authority is primarily ceremonial and exercised on the advice of the prime minister’s government.
Ayatullah Khomeini is mentioned twice by name in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution, and articles 5 and 107 recognize his explicit authority in the republic:
The Queen is not the head of state for all Commonwealth countries. Of the 54 members of the Commonwealth, only 16 are constitutional monarchies:
The majority of Commonwealth countries are republics (e.g. - India, the first Commnwealth Republic). In those countries, the Queen has no constitutional role. They recognize her as head of the Commonwealth, but that’s all.
Northern Piper, thanks for the correction.
Actually, he did take both titles, inferior or not. He also styled himself as a Field Marshal.
The head of state is useful for opening highways, dedicating ships, greeting ambassadors at fancy parties, and otherwise functioning in a rather disposable manner. A trained monkey could probably do as well.
The head of government actually is supposed to do something useful. Oddly enough, at times, I have come to the conclusion that a trained monkey would do just as well in this position.
Very interesting. I don’t think that I have ever seen the same person take both titles at the same time. Thanks, paperbackwriter.
I notice that that link is maintained by the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, implying that the government listed enjoys at least some level of governmental recognition, and was last updated on 11 March 2003. I wonder when the next update will be.
Well, thing is, when someone takes both titles at the same time, you often see them adopt some other styling such as Beloved Great Leader , Generalissimo of the Nation, what have you. It tends to not be done because it betrays a shameless scorn for even the formal appearance of following constitutional protocol.
Where the jobs are separate, the major function of the head of state is to handle most of the ceremonial functions that would otherwise overwhelm the head of government. Think how much of the American president’s time is wasted meeting returning astronauts, winning sports teams, Miss Dairy USA, etc. (Alright, meeting Miss Dairy isn’t a total waste…)
The other function of a separate head of state is to provide continuity. No matter which political party is in power, the loyalty of the public is to the “Dear old Queen” or whoever. This keeps the head of government from getting to full of himself. Until relatively recently, the Prime Minister of England could travel via public transportation, etc…
Oh, no. He was a Field Marshal. He promoted himself when he became president. Previously, as vice-president, he was just a general. That, AFAIK, was his first, um, “real” military experience.
The final, and ultimately most important, job of a Head of State is to be the repository for powers that would be too tempting for a Head of Government – but which may be necessary for emergencies. Nobody power-hungry is going to take a job that is 99% ceremonial, and most people elevated to Head of State in republicas (and most monarchs by training) know when it’s enough of a crisis to declare Martial Law, suspend Parliament, fire the insane Prime Minister, or whatever the circumstances call for.
If I recall correctly, I think Stalin did (and there’s a role model for any world leader). For several years his title was General Secretary of the Communist Party, ie the head of the government. While he effectively controlled the entire Soviet Union from that office, it wasn’t until after the Germans invaded in 1941 that he officially became the head of state.
Did anybody ever discern a title that Khadafi (apparently you can spell his name any way you feel like and be at least as correct as anybody else) bestowed upon himself as Grand Poobah of Libya?
Didn’t Liberia have a Sargeant as a head-of-state for a bit?