We explain what a minister is, the origin of the term and the history of the position. In addition, how it is part of the Executive Power of a State.
What is a minister?
When today we speak of a minister, in most cases we are referring to a person who holds a public office of political importance, heading a specific department (that is, a ministry) within a government cabinet.
These types of positions are under the direct authority of the person who exercises the leadership of the Executive Power (that is, a president or a prime minister, or their equivalents) and in some nations they are known as “secretaries of state”.
The word minister comes from Latin minister, translatable as “who takes care of the minimum”, that is, “servant” or “servant”, and present in other words as “administration”.
The term comes from the times of Ancient Rome, especially in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. C., when the Roman republic became an increasingly vertical empire. At that time, the positions elected by the plebs (“magistrates”) were replaced by those appointed personally by the monarch, who trusted only his servants and his closest servants, or people of great confidence of the emperor, who came to be called minister or ministeriani.
The term passed from those ancient times to the Christian Medieval era. It was adopted by the religion itself as a way of referring to its priests, who “serve God” or are, in some way, his representatives on Earth, since the Christian God is the absolute king of creation.
This usage still exists in the Catholic Church and in other different cults. Similarly, the term passed into modern republican life and is used today to refer to government cabinet officials.
In political terms, the ministers They are part of the government and the Executive Power, and are usually organized according to the area of their interest in ministries, that is, in units that are dedicated to a specific aspect of government management. For example, there is usually a minister of education, defense, economy, health, etc., depending on the number and the name of the ministries that are contemplated in the structure of the State.
Instead, a Prime Minister is the political head of the government, that is, who coordinates the work of all these ministers and depending on the model of the State, it can respond to the president-elect or it can take his place.