A vice president or vice-president , also director in British English , is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on the executive branch of the government, university or company. The name comes from the Latin term vice meaning "in place of" and typically serves as pro tempore ( Latin : ’for the time being’) to the president. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president . In everyday speech, the abbreviation VP is used.
52-538: In government , a vice president is a person whose primary responsibility is to act in place of the president on the event of the president's death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as their running mate , or more rarely, appointed independently after the president's election. Most governments with vice presidents have one person in this role at any time, although in some countries there are two or more vice presidents–an extreme case being Iran's 12 vice presidents . If
104-414: A company, these individuals are sometimes differentiated with titles denoting higher positions such as executive vice president or senior vice president, with the remaining management team holding the title vice president. The title of assistant vice president or associate vice president is used in large organizations below vice president and there can be a very convoluted list of other types of VPs as seen in
156-456: A goal to create a typology or taxonomy of polities , as typologies of political systems are not obvious. It is especially important in the political science fields of comparative politics and international relations . Like all categories discerned within forms of government, the boundaries of government classifications are either fluid or ill-defined. Superficially, all governments have an official de jure or ideal form. The United States
208-425: A governing body, such as a legislature or jury . Some governments combine both direct and indirect democratic governance, wherein the citizenry selects representatives to administer day-to-day governance, while also reserving the right to govern directly through popular initiatives , referendums (plebiscites), and the right of recall . In a constitutional democracy the powers of the majority are exercised within
260-463: A narrower scope, such as the government of Portugal , which is actually more similar to the concept of "administration" . The moment and place that the phenomenon of human government developed is lost in time; however, history does record the formations of early governments. About 5,000 years ago, the first small city-states appeared. By the third to second millenniums BC, some of these had developed into larger governed areas: Sumer , ancient Egypt ,
312-407: A standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three. Scholars generally refer to a dictatorship as either a form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism. An autocracy is a system of government in which supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for
364-477: A striking parallel with star formation, new structures suddenly appeared, together with a new level of complexity. Like stars, cities and states reorganize and energize the smaller objects within their gravitational field. Another explanation includes the need to properly manage infrastructure projects such as water infrastructure. Historically, this required centralized administration and complex social organisation, as seen in regions like Mesopotamia. However, there
416-428: A variety of hybrid regimes . Modern classification systems also include monarchies as a standalone entity or as a hybrid system of the main three. Historically prevalent forms of government include monarchy, aristocracy , timocracy , oligarchy , democracy , theocracy , and tyranny . These forms are not always mutually exclusive, and mixed governments are common. The main aspect of any philosophy of government
468-495: Is the case in India and Namibia , but the presence of both offices concurrently is rare. In business , "vice president" refers to hierarchical position that ranges from extremely senior positions directly reporting to C-level executives (in non-financial companies), to junior non-management positions with four to 10 years of experience (in financial companies). In non-financial businesses, vice presidents often report directly to
520-493: Is a federal constitutional republic, while the former Soviet Union was a federal socialist republic . However self-identification is not objective, and as Kopstein and Lichbach argue, defining regimes can be tricky, especially de facto , when both its government and its economy deviate in practice. For example, Voltaire argued that "the Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire". In practice,
572-429: Is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, elite ruling class , such as a hereditary nobility or privileged caste . This class exercises minority rule , often as a landed timocracy , wealthy plutocracy , or oligarchy . Many monarchies were aristocracies, although in modern constitutional monarchies, the monarch may have little effective power. The term aristocracy could also refer to
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#1732772990033624-597: Is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining policy. In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution , a statement of its governing principles and philosophy. While all types of organizations have governance , the term government is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments and subsidiary organizations . The main types of modern political systems recognized are democracies , totalitarian regimes , and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes with
676-448: Is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head . The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units, variously called states, provinces or otherwise. Federalism is a system based upon democratic principles and institutions in which
728-605: Is archaeological evidence that shows similar successes with more egalitarian and decentralized complex societies. Starting at the end of the 17th century, the prevalence of republican forms of government grew. The English Civil War and Glorious Revolution in England, the American Revolution , and the French Revolution contributed to the growth of representative forms of government. The Soviet Union
780-471: Is called an aristocracy. In other kinds of Commonwealth there can be none: for either one, or more, or all, must have the sovereign power (which I have shown to be indivisible) entire. According to Yale professor Juan José Linz , there a three main types of political systems today: democracies , totalitarian regimes and, sitting between these two, authoritarian regimes with hybrid regimes . Another modern classification system includes monarchies as
832-439: Is destroying universities. "Corporate vice president" is an older term that usually denotes a vice president that is named as a corporate officer by the board of directors. Not all vice presidents in a company in the modern business environment are named as an official corporate officer. Depending on the specific organization, the following may be an example of the hierarchy of the vice presidents. The following list explains where
884-426: Is how political power is obtained, with the two main forms being electoral contest and hereditary succession . A government is the system to govern a state or community. The Columbia Encyclopedia defines government as "a system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society". While all types of organizations have governance ,
936-581: Is to be reconceptualised where in times of climatic change the needs and desires of the individual are reshaped to generate sufficiency for all. The quality of a government can be measured by Government effectiveness index , which relates to political efficacy and state capacity . List of forms of government Plato in his book The Republic (375 BC) divided governments into five basic types (four being existing forms and one being Plato's ideal form, which exists "only in speech"): These five regimes progressively degenerate starting with aristocracy at
988-421: Is typically the case with majority governments, but even a minority government may consist of just one party unable to find a willing coalition partner at the moment. A state that continuously maintains a single-party government within a (nominally) multiparty system possesses a dominant-party system . In a (nondemocratic) one-party system a single ruling party has the (more-or-less) exclusive right to form
1040-683: The Indus Valley civilization , and the Yellow River civilization . One reason that explains the emergence of governments includes agriculture. Since the Neolithic Revolution , agriculture has been an efficient method to create food surplus. This enabled people to specialize in non-agricultural activities. Some of them included being able to rule over others as an external authority. Others included social experimentation with diverse governance models. Both these activities formed
1092-536: The Vice President of the United States , for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the president . A vice president, in some cases, may also be appointed by the president as the head of a ministry in the cabinet or to lead certain executive initiatives designated by the president. In parliamentary or semi-presidential systems, a vice president may coexist with a prime minister, as
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#17327729900331144-424: The president or CEO of the company and are members of the executive management team. Some corporations that use this term may have individuals with the title of vice president responsible for specific business divisions (e.g., vice president for legal, vice president for sales and marketing, vice president for finance, and vice president for human resources). When there are typically several vice presidents in
1196-772: The Soviet Union was a centralized autocratic one-party state under Joseph Stalin . Identifying a form of government is also difficult because many political systems originate as socio-economic movements and are then carried into governments by parties naming themselves after those movements; all with competing political ideologies. Experience with those movements in power, and the strong ties they may have to particular forms of government, can cause them to be considered as forms of government in themselves. Other complications include general non-consensus or deliberate " distortion or bias " of reasonable technical definitions of political ideologies and associated forms of governing, due to
1248-546: The United States has been chiefly associated with right-wing politics and the Republican Party . However, during the era of segregation many Southern Democrats were conservatives, and they played a key role in the conservative coalition that controlled Congress from 1937 to 1963. Opinions vary by individuals concerning the types and properties of governments that exist. "Shades of gray" are commonplace in any government and its corresponding classification. Even
1300-459: The VP sits in an organization: This comparison is not strictly correct, as director is a legal term, meaning someone registered with the relevant country's company registrar (or simply named in the legal documents, for countries not having company registration) as having managerial control of the company, and having legal responsibility for its operation, whilst a vice president does not. In either case
1352-429: The activities of associated government officials and candidates for office. In a multiparty system of government, multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government offices, typically by competing in elections , although the effective number of parties may be limited. A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties together holding an absolute majority of seats in
1404-402: The basis of governments. These governments gradually became more complex as agriculture supported larger and denser populations, creating new interactions and social pressures that the government needed to control. David Christian explains As farming populations gathered in larger and denser communities, interactions between different groups increased and the social pressure rose until, in
1456-482: The bylaws of a club specifically provide of the officer title of president-elect , that officer would assume the powers and duties of the president upon vacancy of that office only if specified in the bylaws. Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state . In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature , executive , and judiciary . Government
1508-531: The event of the president's death, resignation or incapacity. A few vice presidents in the Americas also hold the position of president of the senate ; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending diplomatic functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend;
1560-404: The first vice president can be interchangeable with executive vice president and the remaining vice presidents are ranked in order of their seniority. Sometimes a vice president is also called presidium member , especially when there are more than person holding the post. The primary responsibility of the vice president of a club or organization is to be prepared to assume the powers and duties of
1612-570: The framework of representative democracy, but the constitution limits majority rule , usually through the provision by all of certain universal rights , such as freedom of speech or freedom of association . A republic is a form of government in which the country is considered a "public matter" ( Latin : res publica ), not the private concern or property of the rulers, and where offices of states are subsequently directly or indirectly elected or appointed rather than inherited. The people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over
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1664-811: The functions and number of branches. An independent, parallel distribution of powers between branches of government is the separation of powers . A shared, intersecting, or overlapping distribution of powers is the fusion of powers . Governments are often organised into three branches with separate powers: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary; this is sometimes called the trias politica model. However, in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems , branches of government often intersect, having shared membership and overlapping functions. Many governments have fewer or additional branches, such as an independent electoral commission or auditory branch. Presently, most governments are administered by members of an explicitly constituted political party which coordinates
1716-628: The government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. A common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Montesquieu included both democracies , where all the people have a share in rule, and aristocracies or oligarchies , where only some of the people rule, as republican forms of government. Other terms used to describe different republics include democratic republic , parliamentary republic , semi-presidential republic , presidential republic , federal republic , people's republic , and Islamic republic . Federalism
1768-401: The government, and the formation of other parties may be obstructed or illegal. In some cases, a government may have a non-partisan system , as is the case with absolute monarchy or non-partisan democracy . Democracy is the most popular form of government. More than half of the nations in the world are democracies—97 of 167, as of 2021. However, the world is becoming more authoritarian with
1820-555: The implicit threat of a coup d'état or mass insurrection ). Absolute monarchy is a historically prevalent form of autocracy, wherein a monarch governs as a singular sovereign with no limitation on royal prerogative . Most absolute monarchies are hereditary , however some, notably the Holy See , are elected by an electoral college (such as the college of cardinals , or prince-electors ). Other forms of autocracy include tyranny , despotism , and dictatorship . Aristocracy
1872-484: The literature of classical antiquity , including Plato 's Ship of State . In British English , "government" sometimes refers to what's also known as a " ministry " or an " administration ", i.e., the policies and government officials of a particular executive or governing coalition . Finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for rule or governance. In other languages, cognates may have
1924-455: The members of the organization. When multiple vice presidents are elected, the positions are usually numbered to prevent confusion as to who may preside or succeed to the office of president upon vacancy of that office (for example: first vice president, second vice president, and so on). In some cases vice presidents are given titles due to their specific responsibilities, for example: vice president of operations, finance, etc. In some associations
1976-531: The most liberal democracies limit rival political activity to one extent or another while the most tyrannical dictatorships must organize a broad base of support thereby creating difficulties for " pigeonholing " governments into narrow categories. Examples include the claims of the United States as being a plutocracy rather than a democracy since some American voters believe elections are being manipulated by wealthy Super PACs . Some consider that government
2028-463: The nature of politics in the modern era. For example: The meaning of "conservatism" in the United States has little in common with the way the word's definition is used elsewhere. As Ribuffo notes, "what Americans now call conservatism much of the world calls liberalism or neoliberalism "; a "conservative" in Finland would be labeled a " socialist " in the United States. Since the 1950s conservatism in
2080-498: The next section. As many of these VPs have minimal employees reporting to them, their necessity has been questioned, with for example Inc. magazine arguing to flatten the corporate hierarchy. Similarly, as universities have adopted a corporate structure there is concern over administrative bloat and over-paying VPs. Benjamin Ginsberg, a political scientist and professor, has claimed the proliferation of VPs and other administrators
2132-550: The non- peasant , non-servant, and non- city classes in the feudal system . Democracy is a system of government where citizens exercise power by voting and deliberation . In a direct democracy , the citizenry as a whole directly forms a participatory governing body and vote directly on each issue. In indirect democracy , the citizenry governs indirectly through the selection of representatives or delegates from among themselves, typically by election or, less commonly, by sortition . These select citizens then meet to form
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2184-422: The office of the president in the case of a vacancy in that office. If the office of president becomes vacant, the vice president (or in clubs with multiple vice presidents, the VP that occupies the highest-ranking office), will assume the office of president, with the lower vice presidents to fill in the remaining vice presidencies, leaving the lowest vice presidency to be filled by either election or appointment. If
2236-405: The parliament, in contrast to a minority government in which they have only a plurality of seats and often depend on a confidence-and-supply arrangement with other parties. A coalition government is one in which multiple parties cooperate to form a government as part of a coalition agreement . In a single-party government, a single party forms a government without the support of a coalition, as
2288-458: The people as a whole (a democracy, such as a republic). Thomas Hobbes stated on their classification: The difference of Commonwealths consisteth in the difference of the sovereign , or the person representative of all and every one of the multitude. And because the sovereignty is either in one man, or in an assembly of more than one; and into that assembly either every man hath right to enter, or not everyone, but certain men distinguished from
2340-432: The power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation . Proponents are often called federalists . Governments are typically organised into distinct institutions constituting branches of government each with particular powers , functions, duties, and responsibilities. The distribution of powers between these institutions differs between governments, as do
2392-400: The president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill their duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many presidential systems , vice presidents may not wield much day-to-day political power, but are still considered important members of the cabinet , while other vice presidents might not have any purpose beyond acting in place of the president on
2444-488: The responsibilities may be overall to the company, a region (US, EMEA, CEE...), business unit or function such as sales, marketing, IT etc. In financial companies, a "vice president" is usually a seniority rank that denotes higher responsibility, though such may not be leadership. The title does not denote a leadership position within the company, but often a role relatively junior to the executive board. Financial services companies have multiple vice presidents, possibly because
2496-461: The rest; it is manifest there can be but three kinds of Commonwealth. For the representative must need to be one man or more; and if more, then it is the assembly of all, or but of a part. When the representative is one man, then is the Commonwealth a monarchy; when an assembly of all that will come together, then it is a democracy or popular Commonwealth; when an assembly of a part only, then it
2548-442: The title is a form of delayering when an employee can not be moved higher in the organization but still deserves recognition. In most cases, the title merely implies that someone is in a medium-seniority individual contributor role. Larger financial institutions have thousands of employees with the title "vice president". In other organizations ( e.g. , trade unions , societies, clubs) one or multiple vice presidents are elected by
2600-401: The top and tyranny at the bottom. In his Politics , Aristotle elaborates on Plato's five regimes discussing them in relation to the government of one, of the few, and of the many. From this follows the classification of forms of government according to which people have the authority to rule: either one person (an autocracy , such as monarchy), a select group of people (an aristocracy), or
2652-475: The word government is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments on Earth, as well as their subsidiary organizations, such as state and provincial governments as well as local governments . The word government derives from the Greek verb κυβερνάω [ kubernáo ] meaning to steer with a gubernaculum (rudder), the metaphorical sense being attested in
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#17327729900332704-502: Was the first large country to have a Communist government. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall , liberal democracy has become an even more prevalent form of government. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there was a significant increase in the size and scale of government at the national level. This included the regulation of corporations and the development of the welfare state . In political science, it has long been
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