Potentate

As rulers are referred to those within a state holder of the executive power ( the executive) are. The term is independent of the particular form of government, and may take for monarchs ( princes, kings, emperors, etc.), dictators or heads of state or heads of government in democratic states ( President, Prime Minister, Chancellor, etc. ) are used. In the plural, it is called sometimes by the authorities to designate a social group, which holds the executive power.

The term in power is mainly negative connotations in the German language area. Frequently rulers have come through a coup or a military coup to power or chat with military force or rigged elections in power.

Extreme forms of the ruler are the dictator and the tyrant.

Often a military dictator in the mass media coverage diplomatically dubbed with military rulers since the word rulers appear less hard than the term dictator. Thus, after the attacks on the World Trade Center (as Verbünderter the western world in the fight against terrorism required ) Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf in the leading German media instead called a dictator now as a military power.