Editing Head of state (section)

===Semi-presidential systems===
[[File:De Gaulle-OWI.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Charles de Gaulle]], President and head of state of the [[French Fifth Republic]] (1959–1969)]]
{{Main|Semi-presidential system}}
Semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably (in the president-parliamentary subtype) a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The [[Constitution of France|constitution]] of the [[Fifth French Republic]] provides for a [[Prime Minister of France|prime minister]] who is chosen by the president, but who nevertheless must be able to gain support in the [[French National Assembly|National Assembly]]. Should a president be of one side of the political spectrum and the opposition be in control of the legislature, the president is usually obliged to select someone from the opposition to become prime minister, a process known as [[Cohabitation (government)|Cohabitation]]. President [[François Mitterrand]], a Socialist, for example, was forced to cohabit with the [[Gaullism|neo-Gaullist]] (right wing) [[Jacques Chirac]], who became his prime minister from 1986 to 1988. In the French system, in the event of cohabitation, the president is often allowed to set the policy agenda in security and foreign affairs and the prime minister runs the domestic and economic agenda.

Other countries evolve into something akin to a semi-presidential system or indeed a full presidential system.The [[Weimar Constitution|constitution]] of the [[Weimar Republic]], for example, provided for a popularly elected [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|president]] with theoretically dominant executive powers that were intended to be exercised only in emergencies, and a cabinet appointed by him from the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]], which was expected, in normal circumstances, to be answerable to the Reichstag. Initially, the president was merely a symbolic figure with the Reichstag dominant; however, persistent political instability, in which governments often lasted only a few months, led to a change in the power structure of the republic, with the president's emergency powers called increasingly into use to prop up governments challenged by critical or even hostile Reichstag votes. By 1932, power had shifted to such an extent that the German president, [[Paul von Hindenburg]], was able to dismiss a [[Chancellor of Germany#First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)|chancellor]] and select his own person for the job, even though the outgoing chancellor possessed the confidence of the Reichstag while the new chancellor did not. Subsequently, President von Hindenburg used his power to appoint [[Adolf Hitler]] as Chancellor without consulting the Reichstag.
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