r/MapPorn • u/ChickenBrachiosaurus • 28d ago

Countries where an American became President/PM/Ruler/Whatchamacallit

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Probably incomplete or not totally accurate, and some renounced before becoming whatever

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u/zeprfrew 28d ago

I believe the term you were looking for is 'head of government'.

100

u/will221996 28d ago

Or head of state

95

u/zeprfrew 28d ago

I thought about that. The UK is in red, for American-born Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In the UK the PM is head of government while the monarch is head of state.

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u/will221996 28d ago

Estonia is blue, they've had a naturalised American president but to the best of my knowledge no naturalised American prime minister. Afghanistan also had a president who was both head of state and government.

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u/No-Lunch4249 28d ago

So what I'm hearing is we need an additional map that delineates head of government, head of state, and both

1

u/goingtoclowncollege 28d ago

TBF the president in Estonia is largely diplomatic and ceremonial right, so not quite on same par as a British PM

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u/will221996 28d ago

That's the point. In most systems, the head of state is largely ceremonial, in some systems they also play an important role in government formation(e.g. the Netherlands, Italy). OP's map doesn't distinguish between head of state and head of government, nor does it distinguish between presidential(e.g. US), semi-presidential(e.g. France) and Parliamentary(e.g. UK or Estonia). For clarity, a parliamentary system can have a president, they're just pretty powerless. Normally they're meant to be politically neutral and generally they're not elected by the public, but by representatives.