A minister is a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' premier', '

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

', ' chancellor' or other title. In

Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...

jurisdictions which use the

Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...

of government, ministers are usually required to be members of one of the houses of Parliament or legislature, and are usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature. In other jurisdictions—such as

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

—the holder of a cabinet-level post or other government official is not permitted to be a member of the legislature. Depending on the administrative arrangements in each jurisdiction, ministers are usually heads of a government department and members of the government's ministry, cabinet and perhaps of a committee of cabinet. Some ministers may be more senior than others, and some may hold the title ' assistant minister' or ' deputy minister'. Some jurisdictions, with a large number of ministers, may designate ministers to be either in the inner or outer ministry or cabinet. In some jurisdictions—such as

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

—holders of an equivalent cabinet-level post are called secretaries (e.g., the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom, Secretary of State in the United States). Some holders of a cabinet-level post may have another title, such as ' Attorney-General' or ' Postmaster-General'.

Etymology

The term 'minister' also is used in diplomacy, for a diplomat of the second class, such as in the title Minister Plenipotentiary, ranking between an Ambassador and a Minister Resident. The term minister comes from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, deriving from the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

word , originally in Latin, meaning "servant, attendant", which itself was derived from the word '' meaning "less". In jurisdictions that use the

of government—such as the

and Australia—ministers or their equivalents are selected from the legislature, and usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature. In jurisdictions with strict separation of powers—such as

, and the

—ministers cannot be members of the legislature, and a legislator chosen to become a minister must resign from the legislature. Normally the leader of the majority party becomes the prime minister, or an office of equivalent function, and selects the other ministers. In the Westminster system, these ministers continue to represent their constituency in parliament while being part of the government. Individuals who are not in parliament may be appointed as a minister, usually in order to bring special skills to the government. In the United Kingdom, a government minister does not have to be a member of either House of Parliament. In practice, however, convention is that ministers must be members of either the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in order to be accountable to Parliament. From time to time, prime ministers appoint non-parliamentarians as ministers. This can be done by first appointing the person to the House of Lords.

Types of ministers and their name

Various countries form ministries as Cabinets (see List of cabinets). Other cabinets are usually included in ''Politics of ..''-articles * Lists of incumbents groups lists of ministers by country Specific ministers include: * Agriculture minister * Commerce minister * Communications minister * Culture minister * Defence minister * Deputy prime minister * Education minister * Energy minister * Environment minister * Finance minister * Foreign minister * Housing minister * Health minister * Industry minister * Interior minister * Justice minister * Labour minister * Prime minister * Public works minister * Science minister * Sports minister * Tourism minister * Transport minister Some ministers may hold multiple portfolios and lead several ministries simultaneously, while multiple ministers with separate portfolios may oversee a single ministry, or may also share both ministerial and deputy-ministerial portfolios in different ministries. Some ministers may be more senior than others, and some may hold the title " assistant minister" or " deputy minister". Some jurisdictions, with a large number of ministers, may designate ministers to be either in the inner or outer ministry or cabinet. A cabinet minister can sometimes be in charge of no ministry at all, and is then known as a " minister without portfolio".

Notes

References

{{Authority control Government occupations

Etymology

Types of ministers and their name

See also

Notes

References