de facto prime minister

(noun)

It is possible that a powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president can become a de facto Prime Minister. Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government, while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters.

Related Terms

Examples of de facto prime minister in the following topics:

  • The Executive Office of the President

    • It is possible that a powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president can become a de facto Prime Minister.
    • Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government, while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters.
    • A powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president can become a de facto Prime Minister.
    • Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government, while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters.

  • Italy Under Mussolini

    • In 1939, Italy annexed Albania, a de facto protectorate for decades.
    • As Prime Minister, the first years of Mussolini's rule were characterized by a right-wing coalition government composed of Fascists, nationalists, liberals, and two Catholic clerics from the Popular Party.
    • A law passed on Christmas Eve 1925 changed Mussolini's formal title from "president of the Council of Ministers" to "head of the government" (though he was still called "Prime Minister" by most non-Italian outlets).
    • This law transformed Mussolini's government into a de facto legal dictatorship.
    • From left to right: Michele Bianchi, Emilio De Bono, Italo Balbo and Cesare Maria De Vecchi.

  • Dunkirk and Vichy France

    • In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the events in France "a colossal military disaster," saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured.
    • Of the French soldiers evacuated from France in June 1940, about 3,000 joined Charles de Gaulle's Free French army in Britain.
    • During a visit to Paris on 17 May, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was astonished to learn from Gamelin that the French had committed all their troops to the ongoing engagements and had no strategic reserves.
    • Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, the de facto capital of southern, "unoccupied" France was the town of Vichy, 360 km to the south.
    • The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and puppet of Nazi Germany.

  • The United Kingdom and Appeasement

    • As with many in Europe who had witnessed the horrors of the First World War and its aftermath, United Kingdom Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was committed to peace.
    • The settlement gave Germany the Sudetenland starting 10 October, and de facto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised to go no further.

  • International Diplomacy

    • European governments sent military observers to assess the ‘de facto' establishment of independence.
    • Throughout the early years of the war, the British foreign secretary, Emperor Napoleon III of France, and, to a lesser extent, the British prime minister, showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least mediation of the war.

  • Confederate Diplomacy

    • Throughout the early years of the war, British Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell, Emperor Napoleon III of France, and, to a lesser extent, British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least in mediation of the war.
    • The Confederacy was seen internationally as a serious attempt at nationhood, and European governments sent military observers to assess the de facto establishment of independence.

  • Italy and Germany

    • The Fascists, under the leadership of Mussolini, demanded Prime Minister Luigi Facta's resignation and that Mussolini be named Prime Minister.
    • On October 28, 1922, the king selected Mussolini to become Prime Minister, allowing Mussolini and the Fascist Party to pursue their political ambitions as long as they supported the monarchy and its interests.
    • The King was a figurehead and handled ceremonial roles; he retained the power to dismiss the prime minister on the advice of the Grand Council—which is what happened in 1943.
    • The remaining political parties were dissolved, and on 14 July 1933, Germany became a de facto one-party state when the founding of new parties was made illegal.

  • Cardinal Mazarin and the Fronde

    • Cardinal Mazarin, for years de facto the ruler of France, continued earlier anti-Habsburg policies, was critical to establishing the Westphalian order of sovereign states, and laid the foundation for Louis XIV's absolutism.
    • Cardinal Jules Mazarin was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, and politician, who served as the Chief Minister to the King of France from 1642 until his death in 1661.
    • After Richelieu's death, Mazarin succeeded him as Chief Minister of France.
    • Austria, ruled by the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III, ceded all Habsburg lands and claims in Alsace to France and acknowledged her de facto sovereignty over the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Verdun, and Toul.
    • Following the end of the Thirty Years’ War, Mazarin, as the de facto ruler of France, played a crucial role establishing the Westphalian principles that would guide European states’ foreign policy and the prevailing world order.

  • A Growing War in Vietnam

    • In South Vietnam, anti-Communist Ngo Dinh Diem had become prime minister in 1954, while Ho Chi Minh continued to rule the North.
    • The CIA was less optimistic, however, warning that "the Viet Cong by and large retain de facto control of much of the countryside and have steadily increased the overall intensity of the effort."

  • The Legislative Assembly

    • Tensions between Louis XVI and the Legislative Assembly intensified and the blame for war failures was thrown first upon the king and his ministers and upon the Girondins party.
    • The Girondins made a last advance to Louis, offering to save the monarchy if he would accept them as ministers.
    • Chaos persisted until the National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage and charged with writing a new constitution, met on September 20, 1792 and became the new de facto government of France.
    • Medal of the First French Legislative Assembly (1791-1792), Augustin Challamel, Histoire-musée de la république Française, depuis l'assemblée des notables, Paris, Delloye, 1842.
    • The People Storming the Tuileries on 20 June, 1792, Jacques-Antoine Dulaure, Esquisses historiques des principaux événemens de la révolution, v. 2, Paris, Baudouin frères, 1823.