page_title: Head of state
section_title: Diplomatic role
hierarchical_section_title: Head of state / Roles / Executive role / Diplomatic role
caption_attribution_description: English: Daniel Shapiro, U.S. diplomat, presents his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres, August 3, 2011. As of 2011, Shapiro is the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
context_page_description: A head of state is the public persona who officially embodies a state in its unity and legitimacy. Depending on the country's form of government and separation of powers, the head of state may be a ceremonial figurehead or concurrently the head of government and more.
  In a parliamentary system, such as India and Pakistan, the head of state usually has mostly ceremonial powers, with a separate head of government. However in some parliamentary systems, like South Africa, there is an executive president that is both head of state and head of government. Likewise, in some parliamentary systems the head of state is not the head of government, but still has significant powers, for example Morocco. In contrast, a semi-presidential system, such as France, has both heads of state and government as the de facto leaders of the nation. Meanwhile, in presidential systems such as the United States, the head of state is also the head of government.
  Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, said that the head of state should embody l'esprit de la nation.
context_section_description: Although many constitutions, particularly from the 19th century and earlier, make no explicit mention of a head of state in the generic sense of several present day international treaties, the officeholders corresponding to this position are recognised as such by other countries. In a monarchy, the monarch is generally understood to be the head of state.
  The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which codified longstanding custom, operates under the presumption that the head of a diplomatic mission (i.e. ambassador or nuncio) of the sending state is accredited to the head of state of the receiving state. The head of state accredits (i.e. formally validates) his or her country's ambassadors (or rarer equivalent diplomatic mission chiefs, such as high commissioner or papal nuncio) through sending formal a Letter of Credence (and a Letter of Recall at the end of a tenure) to other heads of state and, conversely, receives the letters of their foreign counterparts. Without that accreditation, the chief of the diplomatic mission cannot take up their role and receive the highest diplomatic status. The role of a head of state in this regard, is codified in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations from 1961, which (as of 2017) 191 sovereign states has ratified.
  However, there are provisions in the Vienna Convention that a diplomatic agent of lesser rank, such as a chargé d'affaires, is accredited to the minister of foreign affairs (or equivalent).
  The head of state is often designated the high contracting party in international treaties on behalf of the state; signs them either personally or has them signed in his/her name by ministers (government members or diplomats); subsequent ratification, when necessary, may rest with the legislature. The treaties constituting the European Union and the European Communities are noteworthy contemporary cases of multilateral treaties cast in this traditional format, as are the accession agreements of new member states. However, rather than being invariably concluded between two heads of state, it has become common that bilateral treaties are in present times cast in an intergovernmental format, e.g., between the Government of X and the Government of Y, rather than between His Majesty the King of X and His Excellency the President of Y.
  Example 1 (parliamentary monarchy): Article 8 of the Constitution of the Principality of Liechtenstein states:
  1) The Reigning Prince shall represent the State in all its relations with foreign countries, without prejudice to the requisite participation of the responsible Government.
  2) Treaties by which territory of the State would be ceded, State property alienated, sovereign rights or prerogatives of the State affected, a new burden imposed on the Principality or its citizens, or an obligation assumed that would limit the rights of the citizens of Liechtenstein shall require the assent of Parliament to attain legal force.
  Example 2 (parliamentary republic): Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany states:
  The Federal President shall represent the Federation in its international relations. He shall conclude treaties with foreign states on behalf of the Federation. He shall accredit and receive envoys..
  Example 3 (semi-presidential republic): Title II, Article 14 of the French Constitution of 1958 states:
  The President of the Republic shall accredit ambassadors and envoys extraordinary to foreign powers; foreign ambassadors and envoys extraordinary shall be accredited to him.
  Example 4 (semi-presidential republic): Chapter 4, Article 86, Section 4 of the Constitution of Russia states:
  The President of the Russian Federation:
  a) shall direct the foreign policy of the Russian Federation;
  b) shall hold negotiations and sign international treaties of the Russian Federation;
  c) shall sign instruments of ratification;
  d) shall receive letters of credence and letters of recall of diplomatic representatives accredited to his (her) office.
  Example 5 (single party republic): Section 2, Article 81 of the Constitution of the People's Re
caption: Daniel B. Shapiro, U.S. ambassador to Israel, presents his credentials to Israeli president Shimon Peres on 3 August 2011
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