Republics throughout history have featured heads of states with various titles, but starting from the United States, "president" gradually became the norm. I would argue though that this fairly universal trend really only starts with the French second republic, as theirs was not a presidential system, yet titled the head of state (President of the Republic), and, separately, the head of government (president of the council of ministers, carried over from the Bourbon Restoration)with this title. What else might the head of state come to be called in parliamentary systems if not president?
More diversity in titles for republican heads of state?
- Thread starter Wendell
- Start date
Lord Protector is the first that leaps to mind, since we already have the Cromwellian example. Consul is another alternative with precedent in both ancient and modern times.
Consul seems unlikely to me given Napoleon, and Lord Protector is very British.
Maybe a surviving United Provinces of Rio de la Plata or something else could lead to the title "Supreme Director" surviving? Also more surviving City States/Small Republics would make "Captain of People" "Captain Regent" "Gonfaloniere" "Podesta" or "Doge" popular? Also Dutch Republic and Stadtholder.
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If Napoléon is not defeated, I could see the title being used.
Maybe "High Commissioner"?
Chairman
(General) Secretary
Chancellor
Prime Minister
First Citizen
Premier
All OTL. Well,pms are heads of government, not heads of state, bit that could change.
Leader / Führer / Vozhd
Father (of the country)
Uncle (cf. Oom Paul Kruger, Uncle Joe)
(First) Consul
(High) Tribune
Regent (cf Horthy)
Commander (in chief), (cf Shogun)
Head
Boss
(General) Secretary
Chancellor
Prime Minister
First Citizen
Premier
All OTL. Well,pms are heads of government, not heads of state, bit that could change.
Leader / Führer / Vozhd
Father (of the country)
Uncle (cf. Oom Paul Kruger, Uncle Joe)
(First) Consul
(High) Tribune
Regent (cf Horthy)
Commander (in chief), (cf Shogun)
Head
Boss
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A stadtholder is literally a lieutenant, someone filling in the place of a different person. I'm not sure it is prestigious enough.
Rector (Republic of Ragusa/Dubrovnik) Captain ( Republic of Sale) Tribune (Commmune of Rome)
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An Imperator at the base was "simply" a Roman general who had a triumph.
Why not imagine the title Stadthoder changing its meaning ?
Paraguay's leaders in the earliest days of the country were titled consuls so it's not implausible you'd see that crop up again.
Supreme Director or a similar title would also work if directorial republics become more popular in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The easiest way to do that, would be for the various forms of republicanism that emerged before the American and French revolutions, as well as those that had no ties at all to Europe (such as the Chinese kongsi republics in Southeast Asia and the Native American tribal confederations, the Iroquois one above all) to avoid being replaced or supplanted by those that emulated the American/French model; it's not just the titles that would be different, but also the ways representatives would be chosen.
In Poland it could be naczelnik.
From 1918 to 1922 Józef Piłsudski, used title of Naczelnik Państwa (leader/chief of state)
From 1918 to 1922 Józef Piłsudski, used title of Naczelnik Państwa (leader/chief of state)
If you want one that can easily be translated into any language and isn't evocative of one nation in particular, Supreme Leader is currently used by at least a couple countries and has been used by others IIRC. Admittedly it tends to imply a certain lack of democracy, but that's not the same as not being a republic.
Petike
Kicked
The Republic of Ireland has Uachtarán na hÉireann (president of Ireland), an Taoiseach ("Chief", "Chieftain", prime minister) and an Tánaiste ("heir to the chief", vice-prime minister).
The First Minister of Wales is known as Prif Weinidog Cymru in Welsh.
The Kingdom of Hungary's royal steward was known as the palatine (palatín, palatin) and as the centuries went on, they were not only the right-hand men of the monarch and had plenty of power of their own (and powerplays), but increasingly shifted into being a prime minister equivalent. I have a nod at this in my Carpaverse stories, where the Carpanonian head of state is the palatine (they're essentially a noble's republic, or a monarchy without a royal family - central European in tone, but with a Golden Age Dutch style setup to their politics).
In our old, award-winning Countries of an Alternate World 2* map game from 2012-2013, I created several countries. One small central European monarchy had a palatine as its prime minister, the ruler was a king or queen. An African confederative republic I made up had "presiding chairmen" as the presidents of the two countries/entities in the confederation, in addition to a first minister and a confederal main president. Another federal southern African country had the Federal President, Constituent Presidents (also known as mmusi, i.e. "governors" in SeTswana) and a Federal Chairman. The president of another of my African countries, a Berber-Tuareg federation, was the "Steward of the Tamazgha Tawshete". An alternate Bhutanese monarchy I included in the setting had a "Head Advisor to the King" in the prime minister role. My native-majority Taymyr politia (i.e. republic) in north Siberia had fairly inventive titles, such as "Highest Chieftain of the Politia" (president) and "Guide of the Council of Tribes" (prime minister). Other people also made up various neat political titles for that AH setting.
The First Minister of Wales is known as Prif Weinidog Cymru in Welsh.
The Kingdom of Hungary's royal steward was known as the palatine (palatín, palatin) and as the centuries went on, they were not only the right-hand men of the monarch and had plenty of power of their own (and powerplays), but increasingly shifted into being a prime minister equivalent. I have a nod at this in my Carpaverse stories, where the Carpanonian head of state is the palatine (they're essentially a noble's republic, or a monarchy without a royal family - central European in tone, but with a Golden Age Dutch style setup to their politics).
In our old, award-winning Countries of an Alternate World 2* map game from 2012-2013, I created several countries. One small central European monarchy had a palatine as its prime minister, the ruler was a king or queen. An African confederative republic I made up had "presiding chairmen" as the presidents of the two countries/entities in the confederation, in addition to a first minister and a confederal main president. Another federal southern African country had the Federal President, Constituent Presidents (also known as mmusi, i.e. "governors" in SeTswana) and a Federal Chairman. The president of another of my African countries, a Berber-Tuareg federation, was the "Steward of the Tamazgha Tawshete". An alternate Bhutanese monarchy I included in the setting had a "Head Advisor to the King" in the prime minister role. My native-majority Taymyr politia (i.e. republic) in north Siberia had fairly inventive titles, such as "Highest Chieftain of the Politia" (president) and "Guide of the Council of Tribes" (prime minister). Other people also made up various neat political titles for that AH setting.
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Whereas president is? A president is/was simply someone that presides over something. It only is seen as elevated now because of the US.
Stadtholder has an implication of subordinance to some other figure (who is absent). President does not necessarily imply that.
Even if this term could acquire prestige for the Dutch, its translation into other languages would probably not work very well.
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