Category:Executive ministers

This category is to include various titles and styles used for high, politically responsible offices of the executive branch of a state's government, either directly under the Executive Head of State (such as an absolute Monarch or ruling President) or under parliamentary or similar control,

from the Head of government (strictly speaking only if not identical to the Head of state) downward to what is known in some traditions as cabinet rank, and often some more junior ranks,

but not the civil service, which in principle is usually permanent, not politically dependent on the ruler, party or coalition in power; yet in the USA, for example, over 2000 posts (including Ambassadors) are generally re-assigned with regard for political orientation and/or personal loyalty as part of a new President's so-called Administration, while in totalitarian regime every post, even the most lowly, is subject to political intervention at any time.

Such offices are often 'rendered' in other languages be using a well-known title, especially Minister, as a generic term, but such analogies always pose great risks of missing out on the very subtleties that are often essential to political life in these high regions of state power.

In practice there is an endless variation of and on constitutional models, even varying widely over time within a state, also using similar titles in different senses, so in many cases there is a margin for interpretation what office fits in which category, or indeed in several ones depending on the instance, so one should not simplistically go by the mere title of an office without taking a look at the state's wider constitutional (formal and de facto) regime.