The National Council of Administration ( es, Consejo Nacional de Administración) was part of the

executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ba ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

between 1919 and 1933, ruling alongside the President of the Republic.The Constitution

Library of Congress Country Studies The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain a ...

The ''colegiado'' system was proposed by President

José Batlle y Ordóñez José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez ( or ; 23 May 1856 in Montevideo, Uruguay – 20 October 1929), nicknamed ''Don Pepe'', was a prominent Uruguayan politician, who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. He wa ...

during his second term in office, with the aim of creating an executive body similar to the Swiss Federal Council. Batlle had been opposed to the

presidential system A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...

, believing that a collegiate body would lower the risk of a

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

emerging. Although the proposal was unsuccessful in 1916, Batlle negotiated a compromise with the National Party to include the system in a new constitution approved in a 1917 referendum. The compromise provided for a president and a nine-member National Council of Administration, which consisted of six members of the winning party and also three from the runner-up party. The president was responsible for foreign affairs, national security and agriculture, whilst the NCA oversaw the budget, education, healthcare, industry, industrial relations, labour, livestock and public works. The National Council of Administration had a chairman distinct from the president, making Uruguay the second Latin american country, after

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, to have a

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

with the adoption of the 1917 constitution. Although the new system worked well in its early years, in the early 1930s a series of conflicts involving the council and the president led to a presidential coup by

Gabriel Terra José Luis Gabriel Terra Leivas ( Montevideo, 1 August 1873 - Montevideo, 15 September 1942) was a lawyer and politician of batllista origin in Uruguay, and advisor to all Uruguayan governments on diplomatic, Economic and financial issues ...

in 1933. A new constitution was drawn up, which abolished the National Council of Administration.

Presidents of the National Council

* Feliciano Viera (1919–1921) *

(1921–1923, 1927–1928) * Julio Maria Sosa (1923–1925) *

Luis Alberto de Herrera Luis Alberto de Herrera (Montevideo, 22 July 1873 – 8 April 1959) was a Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. Political and diplomatic roles A national leader of great importance during the first half of the 20th century, he l ...

(1925–1927) * Luis Carlos Caviglia (1928–1929) *

Baltasar Brum Baltasar Brum Rodríguez, GCTE (18 June 1883 – 31 March 1933) was a Uruguayan political figure. He was President of Uruguay from 1919 to 1923. Background His political convictions closely followed those of liberal President José Batlle y Ord ...

(1929–1931) * Juan Pedro Fabini (1931–1933) * Antonio Rubio Pérez (March 1933)

Notable visitors

* In December 1928, US President-elect

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

addressed the National Council of Administration during his trip through Latin America.

References

Collective heads of state History of Uruguay {{Uruguay-gov-stub

Presidents of the National Council

Notable visitors

See also

References