Follow the leader
A school has a principal. A football team has a quarterback. An army has
a general. All these people are leaders. It’s their job to run the
school, or the team, or the army.
Countries have leaders, too. And it’s their job to run their country.
But not all countries have the same kinds of leaders.
In many countries, people choose their leader by voting. The leader is
usually called president, prime minister, or premier. If the people
don’t like the way the leader runs the country, they can vote for a new
leader after a while. Some of the countries that choose their leaders
are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Mexico, and
India.
In some countries, the leader is a king or queen. A king or queen isn’t
chosen by the people. He or she is usually a member of a family called
the royal family. When the king or queen dies, another member of the
same royal family becomes king or queen. Two of the countries that have
kings as leaders are Saudi Arabia and Swaziland.
In some countries, the king or queen is not the leader. The United
Kingdom and Holland have queens, and Sweden and Norway have kings. But
the kings and queens aren’t really the leaders of the countries. The
real leaders are the prime ministers who are chosen by the people.
Some countries have leaders that are chosen for life. When these leaders
die, new leaders are chosen. Cuba is one country whose leader serves for
life. The leader is called the prime minister.
