Editing Head of state (section)

==Official title==
In a [[republic]], the head of state nowadays usually bears the title of [[President (government title)|President]], but some have or have had other titles.<ref name=unprotocol/><ref name=Robertson:221/> Titles commonly used by monarchs are [[King]]/[[Queen Regnant|Queen]] or [[Emperor]]/[[Empress]], but also many others: e.g., [[Grand Duke]], [[Prince]], [[Emir]] and [[Sultan]].

Though [[President (government title)|president]] and various monarchical titles are most commonly used for heads of state, in some nationalistic regimes the leader adopts, formally or de facto, a unique style simply meaning leader in the national language; e.g., Germany's single [[NSDAP|national socialist party chief]] and combined head of state and government, [[Adolf Hitler]], as the ''[[Führer]]'' between 1934 and 1945.

In 1959, when former [[United Kingdom|British]] crown colony [[Singapore]] gained self-government, it adopted the Malay style ''[[Yang di-Pertuan Negara]]'' ("head of state" in [[Malay language|Malay]]) for its governor (the actual head of state remained the British monarch). The second and last incumbent of the office, [[Yusof bin Ishak]], kept the style at 31 August 1963 unilateral declaration of independence and after 16 September 1963 accession to [[Malaysia]] as a state (so now as a constituent part of the federation, a non-sovereign level). After its expulsion from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Singapore became a sovereign [[republic within the Commonwealth|Commonwealth republic]] and installed Yusof bin Ishak as its first president.

In 1959 after the resignation of [[Vice President of Indonesia|Vice President]] [[Mohammad Hatta]], [[President of Indonesia|President]] [[Sukarno]] abolished the position and title of vice-president, assuming the positions of Prime Minister and Head of Cabinet. He also proclaimed himself [[president for life]] ([[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]: ''Presiden Seumur Hidup Panglima Tertinggi''; "''panglima''" meaning "commander or martial figurehead", "''tertinggi''" meaning "highest"; roughly translated to English as "Supreme Commander of the Revolution"). He was praised as "''Paduka Yang Mulia''", a [[Malay titles|Malay honorific]] originally given to kings; Sukarno awarded himself titles in that fashion due to his noble ancestry.

There are also a few nations in which the exact title and definition of the office of head of state have been vague. During the Chinese [[Cultural Revolution]], following the downfall of [[President of the People's Republic of China|Chinese President]] [[Liu Shaoqi]], no successor was named, so the duties of the head of state were transferred collectively to the [[Vice President of the People's Republic of China|vice presidents]] [[Soong Ching-ling]] and [[Dong Biwu]], then to the [[Standing Committee of the National People's Congress]], but [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Chairman]] [[Mao Zedong]] was still the [[paramount leader]]. This situation was later changed: the [[president of the People's Republic of China]] is now the head of state. Although the presidency is a largely [[Figurehead|ceremonial office]] with limited power, the symbolic role of a head of state is now generally performed by [[Xi Jinping]], who is also [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary of the Communist Party]] ([[Leader of the Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party leader]]) and [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|Chairman of the Central Military Commission]] ([[Supreme Military Command of the People's Republic of China|Supreme Military Command]]), making him the [[Paramount leader|most powerful person]] in China.

In North Korea, the late [[Kim Il Sung]] was named "[[Eternal President]]" four years after his death and the [[Eternal leaders of North Korea#Presidency of North Korea before 1994|presidency]] was abolished. As a result, some of the duties previously held by the president were constitutionally delegated to the [[Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly]], who performs some of the roles of a head of state, such as accrediting foreign ambassadors and undertaking overseas visits. However, the ''de jure'' role of head of state lies within the [[President of the State Affairs Commission]], currently [[Kim Jong Un]], who as the [[General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea]] and [[Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of North Korea]], is the [[Supreme Leader (North Korean title)|most powerful person]] in North Korea.

There is debate as to whether [[Samoa]] was an [[elective monarchy]] or an [[Aristocracy|aristocratic republic]], given the comparative ambiguity of the title ''[[O le Ao o le Malo]]'' and the nature of the head of state's office.

In some states the office of head of state is not expressed in a specific title reflecting that role, but constitutionally awarded to a post of another formal nature. Colonel [[Muammar Gaddafi]] initially ruled as combined head of state and briefly head of government of the [[Libyan Arab Republic]], styled as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. In 1977, the Libyan ''[[Jamahiriya]]'' ("state of the masses") replaced the previous republic, and in March 1979 the role of head of state was transferred to the Secretary-General of the General People's Congress (comparable to a Speaker); in practice however Gaddafi remained the ''de facto'' leader as "Guide of the Revolution" until [[First Libyan Civil War|his overthrow]] in 2011.

Sometimes a head of state assumes office as a state becomes legal and political reality, before a formal title for the highest office is determined; thus in the since 1 January 1960 independent republic [[Cameroon]] (''Cameroun'', a former French colony), the first president, [[Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo]], was at first not styled {{Lang|fr|président}} but 'merely' known as {{Lang|fr|chef d'état}} (French for "head of state") until 5 May 1960. In [[Uganda]], [[Idi Amin]] the military leader after the coup of 25 January 1971 was formally styled ''military head of state'' till 21 February 1971, only from then on as regular (but unconstitutional, unelected) president.

In certain cases a special style is needed to accommodate imperfect statehood, e.g., the title ''[[Sadr-i-Riyasat]]'' was used in Kashmir after its accession to India, and the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] leader, [[Yasser Arafat]], was styled the first "President of the [[Palestinian National Authority]]" in 1994. In 2008, the same office was restyled as "[[President of the State of Palestine]]".<ref>{{citation|title=PLO body elects Abbas 'President of Palestine'|newspaper=Khaleej Times Online|date=24 November 2008|archive-date=8 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608080641/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data%2Fmiddleeast%2F2008%2FNovember%2Fmiddleeast_November480.xml&section=middleeast|url=http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2008/November/middleeast_November480.xml&section=middleeast|url-status=dead}}</ref>