Welcome to the MedLibrary.org Wikipedia Supplement on Vice president -- Please Click to Return to Front Page

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

For the Vice President of the United States, their roles and other information, see Vice President of the United States.

"VP" redirects here. For other uses, see VP (disambiguation).

A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president.

Vice presidents in government

In politics, a vice president is a person whose primary responsibility is to replace the president on the event of his or her death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as his or her running mate, elected separately, or appointed independently after the president's election.

Governments with vice presidents generally have only one person in this role at any time. If the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill his or her duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Several vice presidents in the Americas hold the position of President of the Senate; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the President. In this capacity, the vice president may thus assume the role of a de facto symbolic head of state, a position which is lacking in a system of government where the powers of head of state and government are fused.

The vice president's position can mean different things in different democracies. Most states with parliamentary systems do not have vice presidents, but instead name another office-holder – often the president of the upper house of parliament or even the prime minister – to act as effective vice president. However, in India, the Vice President also plays the role of the chairman of the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. In the Republic of Ireland, a collective vice presidency exists called the Presidential Commission, made up of the chairmen of both houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), along with the Irish Chief Justice. In Germany, the de facto vice president is the President of the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament), in Poland it is the Marshal of the Sejm (lower house), and in France it is the speaker of the Senate. India is a country with a parliamentary system that does have a Vice President and that individual presides over the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. In Russia, the Prime Minister serves as de facto vice president, although he or she has much more power than the Vice President of the United States.

Vice presidents in business

In business, "vice president" refers to a rank in management, usually in American or American-influenced companies. A trade union may also elect a vice president. Most companies that use this title generally have large numbers of people with the title of vice president with different types of vice president (e.g. vice president for finance). A vice president in business usually reports directly to the president or CEO of the company. When there are several vice presidents in a company they are sometimes ranked by naming the highest ranking Executive VP, the second highest ranking Senior VP, and the remainder of the management team just VP. There are usually several SVPs in one company, when that title is used. There can also be more than one EVP. The title of Assistant Vice President is typically used in large organizations as a subordinate rank to Vice President. The title of Second Vice President may be used in associations to designate an individual with rank directly below that of the Vice President.

In large brokerage firms and investment banks, there are usually several VPs in each local branch office, the title being more of a marketing approach for customers, than denoting an actual managerial position within the company.

A corporate vice president is rarely "second in line" to succeed the corporate president following death or resignation. Such decisions are usually left up to the board of directors.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 3 December 2008, at 13:42.

Wikipedia Authorship and Review

Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.

Wikipedia Usage Guidelines

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Vice president".

The URL for this specific entry is:

• http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Vice_president

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.