National executives are universal. Every country has an executive, a ‘government’ in the strict sense of the word, as indeed does every other social organization, from the most simple to the most complex. In all these cases there is always a body, normally relatively small, which has the task of running the organization. Indeed, since the third quarter of the twentieth century, independent governments have come to rule practically the whole of the planet: as a result, the number of national executives has more than doubled since the 1940s. The executive is manifestly a focal point, if not the focal point, of political life. This remains true even if doubts are sometimes expressed about the ability of executives to affect markedly the course of events, let alone alter drastically the social and economic structures of their countries. At least they have, more than any other body, an opportunity to shape society; it is indeed their function to do so.