Political minister - Definition and Overview

A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e.g. education, finance, health, state, war etc.). Senior ministers are members of the cabinet, usually led by a prime minister or president.

The term "minister" comes from a Latin word meaning a "servant" (or first servant). In some countries (such as the US, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the UK), such a person can instead known as a secretary or secretary of state.

Until the early 20th century, heads of legations were also called ministers, ie: "Minister for Cuba" or "Minister for France." For example, Sir Ernest Satow was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, 1895-1900, then the top British diplomat in Japan. His successor, Sir Claude MacDonald, was Minister and then Ambassador from 1905 when relations between Britain and Japan were upgraded.

Some examples of ministers, see the lists below for more.

• 17th century
  • Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French Minister of Finance
  • François-Michel le Tellier, French Minister of War
• 20th century
  • Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda
  • Moshe Dayan, Israeli Minister of Defense
  • Sheila Copps, Canadian Minister of Heritage
• 21st century
  • Ali Shamkhani, Iranian Minister of Defense
  • Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information
  • Alexander Downer, Australian Foreign Minister

Lists of ministers

• Cabinets have ministries in various countries, cf. List of cabinets. Other cabinets are usually included in Politics of ..-articles
• Lists of incumbents groups lists of ministers by country
• Specific ministers:
  • Prime Minister
  • Foreign minister
  • Defence minister
  • Minister of the environment
  • Finance minister
  • Interior minister
  • Health minister
  • Justice Minister
  • sometimes Chancellor

See also: Religious minister