Editing Head of state (section)

=={{anchor|CollectiveHead}}<!-- [[Collective heads of state]] redirects here-->Multiple or collective heads of state==
{{see also|Directorial system|Category:Collective heads of state}}

Sometimes multiple individuals are co-equal heads of state, or a [[corporate personhood|corporate person]] embodies the functions of head of state. In some cases [[Order of precedence|precedence]] rotates among the members of the collective as the term of office progresses. Of multiple royal systems, a [[diarchy]], in which two rulers is the constitutional norm, may be distinguished from a [[coregency]], in which a monarchy experiences an exceptional period of multiple rulers. Examples of collective republican systems include nominal [[triumvirate]]s; the [[French Directory]] of the 1790s; the seven-member [[Swiss Federal Council]], where each member acts in turn as [[President of the Swiss Confederation|President]] for one year; the [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] with members from three nations; the two [[Captains Regent]] of [[San Marino]], which maintains the tradition of Italian medieval republics that had always had an even number of consuls.

In the [[Roman Republic]] there were two heads of state, styled [[Roman consul|consul]], both of whom alternated months of authority during their year in office, similarly there was an even number of supreme magistrates in the Italic republics of Ancient Age. In the [[History of Athens|Athenian Republic]] there were nine supreme magistrates, styled [[archons]]. In [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]] there were two supreme magistrates, styled kings or [[Shofet|suffetes]] (judges). In ancient [[Sparta]] there were two hereditary kings, belonging to two dynasties.

In the [[Soviet Union]], the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet|Presidium]] of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]] (between 1938 and 1989) and the earlier [[Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union|Central Executive Committee]] (CEC) of the [[Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union|Congress of Soviets]] (between 1922 and 1938) served as the [[List of heads of state of the Soviet Union|collective head of state]].<ref>{{cite book|author=John Alexander Armstrong|title=Ideology, Politics, and Government in the Soviet Union: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZH9nkBOxrZQC&pg=PA165|year=1978|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-8191-5405-7|page=165}}</ref> After World War II the Soviet model was subsequently adopted by almost all countries belonged to its [[Soviet sphere of influence|sphere of influence]]. [[Czechoslovakia]] remained the only country among them that retained an office of president as a form of a single head of state throughout this period; [[Poland]] and [[Hungary]], which initially had western-style constitutions (and therefore, western-style presidencies), switched to the presidium model with the adoption of new Soviet-influenced constitutions; [[Romania]], which was a monarchy before the Soviet takeover, was the only country to move to a unitary presidency from a collective head of state, a move done by dictator [[Nicolae Ceausescu]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|author=F. J. Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge|title=The distinctiveness of Soviet law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E7OJPKABUXwC&pg=PA23|year=1987|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=90-247-3576-9|page=23|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222173645/https://books.google.sk/books?id=E7OJPKABUXwC&pg=PA23|archive-date=22 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

A modern example of a collective head of state is the [[Sovereignty Council of Sudan]], the interim ruling council of [[Sudan]]. The Sovereignty Council comprises 11 ministers, who together have exercised all governmental functions for Sudan since the fall of President [[Omar Al-Bashir]]. Decisions are made either by consensus or by a super majority vote (8 members).

The [[National Government of the Republic of China]], established in 1928, had a panel of about 40 people as collective head of state. Though beginning that year, a provisional constitution made the [[Kuomintang]] the [[One-party system|sole government party]] and the National Government bound to the instructions of the Central Executive Committee of that party.