It has elements of intergovernmentalism, with the European Council acting as its collective "president", and also elements of supranationalism, with the European Commission acting as its executive and bureaucracy. Although the current constitution still formally grants the Grand Duke a leading role in the executive sphere and the power to appoint and dismiss members of the government as well as the power to dissolve the legislature at will, the monarch of Luxembourg possesses significantly less powers in practise. The third and fourth category refer to situations where the semi-constitutional monarchic form of government has emerged from an autocratic regime without a monarch as head of state, whereas the fifth and sixth categories describe situations where the semi-constitutional monarchic system has developed from another democratic form of government, and subsequently either democratised (the second last column) or not (the last column). (Citation2017), constitutional developments in Tonga constitute a very good example of the Kings dilemma. The central government may or may not be (in theory) a creation of the regional governments. (Citation2013), Luxembourg is classified as a democratic country since 1890. Commonly, monarchies are classified into absolute monarchies and constitutional monarchies, but since this classification essentially is based on the powers the monarch possesses, the difference between the categories is one of degree rather than kind. A constitutional monarchy is a monarchy that is ruled by a written constitution. Yugoslavia, or as it was called at the time, The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was created in 1918, and surpassed the threshold of democracy in 1921. A second category is composed of somewhat larger countries, with a population ranging from 1 to 3 millions, whereas all other countries are considered large. Finally, three monarchies classified as democracies are not included in the V-dem dataset, namely Liechtenstein, Monaco and Tonga. [3], Certain states have been defined as having more than one system of government or a hybrid system for instance, Poland possesses a semi-presidential government where the President appoints the Prime Minister or can veto legislation passed by parliament, but its Constitution defines the country as a parliamentary republic and its ministry is subject to parliamentary confidence.[4][5][6][7][8][9]. If we disregard the exceptional cases of Belgium and the Netherlands dealt with above, Greece is the only country where the powers of the monarch have not been directly inherited from the pre-democratic period. In essence, this system makes it possible for the monarch to exercise his powers behind the scenes, for instance by working through proxies such as privy councillors and trusted military figures (McCargo, Citation2005, p. 501). The countries are included in the present study but their classifications along the nine power dimensions are based on other sources.Footnote3 Table 1 gives an overview of the population of cases. For the purpose of the present study, it would, for instance, have been particularly useful to also account for to what extent the monarch is in control of foreign policy. These systems bear more resemblance to semipresidential systems than to parliamentary ones and therefore the label semi constitutional monarchy is used to denote them. Bhutan 201316, Greece 1874, 194666, Italy 191921, Liechtenstein 19212017, Luxembourg 1944, Monaco 19622017, Sweden 191116, Thailand 1975, 8390, 922005, 201113, Tonga 201217, Yugoslavia 192128. To request a reprint or commercial or derivative permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below. The basic logic behind this statement is simple: a leader who has not been elected by the people has little or no legitimacy to rule in a democratic polity. Greeces period as a semi-constitutional monarchic system ended when disagreements between Prime Minister Venizelos and King Constantine regarding whether Greece should join forces with the allies or remain neutral during World War I led to the breakdown of the democratic system in 1915. During his reign, it appears as the monarch has strengthened his powers, a fact which became apparent at the latest in August 2017, when the King dissolved the legislature, thereby indirectly dismissing the prime minister. Following Corbett et al. Collective presidency consisting of three members; one for each major ethnic group. I then proceed by identifying the cases where the monarch has been powerful on the nine power dimensions of the V-dem dataset. The prime minister is the nation's active executive, but the monarch still has considerable political powers that can be used at their own discretion. The powers of the monarch have been constitutionally weak ever since the country became independent in 1966. The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Bhutan 201316, Greece 1874, 195066, Liechtenstein 19212017, Monaco 19622017, Thailand 1975, 8390, 922005, 201113. from 1994) and Freedom House has classified the country as free since 1993. Under other classification systems, however, these systems may instead be classed as semi-presidential systems (despite their weak presidency). East and Southeast Asian constitutional monarchies. This finding alone, lays good ground for further research in the field. In Lesotho, the college of chiefs determine who will be the next person in line for succession as monarch. Although, if a vote of no confidence is successful and they do not resign, it triggers the dissolution of the legislature and new elections (per section 92 of the, Some monarchs are given a limited number of discretionary, One of fifteen constitutional monarchies which recognize the. In semi-presidential systems, there is always both a president and a head of government, commonly but not exclusively styled as a prime minister. The democratic era of Laos ended in 1959, after the military forced Prime Minister Sananikone to resign. Kanchoochat and Hewison (Citation2016, p. 377), for instance, maintain that the groups[making up] the network monarchy were energised by the rise of Thaksin and became united in opposition to pro-Thaksin governments. Table 4. Systems in which a prime minister is the active head of the executive branch of government. ( 2017, p. 691). The results show that there are five countries where the monarch has been powerful on all four dimensions: Bhutan, Greece, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. In the present contribution, I have made use of V-dems dataset. The constitution adopted the same year gave King Alexander I extensive powers. It's essentially a "semi-presidential" monarchy . Skaaning, Citation2018, pp. Did you know that with a free Taylor & Francis Online account you can gain access to the following benefits? It is particularly noteworthy that all three long-lasting semi-constitutional monarchies are characterised by their extreme smallness. 4 Sometimes it is not easy to draw the line between inheritance and elections. Is the head of government (HOG) appointed by the head of state (HOS)? The president does not have the right to dismiss the prime minister or the cabinet. A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy. First, since powerful hereditary heads of states do not sit well with democratic principles it is natural to consider systems with powerful monarchs as anomalies, which are likely to occur especially in countries which experience a transition from autocratic monarchical rule to democracy. A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged in an individual, who is the head of state, often for life or until abdication. This cut-off point makes sense for two reasons. We use cookies to improve your website experience. democratic regimes in which power is shared between a prime minister and a monarch, can be explained by reference to Huntingtons notion of the Kings dilemma and the size of countries. [47], List of countries by system of government, Presidential systems without a prime minister, Presidential systems with a Supreme Leader, Presidential systems with a prime minister, Parliamentary republican and related systems, Parliamentary republics with an executive presidency, Constitutional monarchies with ceremonial/non-executive monarchs, Constitutional monarchies with active monarchs, Afghanistan: The United Nations currently recognizes the, Iran combines the forms of a presidential republic, with a president elected by universal suffrage, and a theocracy, with a. Italics indicate states with limited recognition. Religious authority: In some countries, the monarchy has a religious dimension, with the monarch However, since this designation shall be in accordance with the customary law of Lesotho (art. In practice, the difference between the categories largely follows the dividing line between democracies and autocracies. berg & Sedelius, Citation2018; Brunlc & Kubt, Citation2019; Cheibub et al., Citation2010; Duverger, Citation1980; Elgie, Citation1999; Sartori, Citation1997; Schleiter & Morgan-Jones, Citation2009), the issue of executive power sharing in democratic monarchies has been more or less completely neglected. i HOS proposes legislation in practice (C) (v2exdfpphs, *_osp, *_ord) (yes = responses 0, 1). When monarchies form the object of research, focusing exclusively on constitutional provisions is likely to aggrandise the powers of the monarch. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: Constitutional monarchies and semi-constitutional monarchies: a global historical study, 18002017, Department of Political Science, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland, A structured review of semi-presidential studies: Debates, results, and missing pieces, Classifying political regimes 18002016: A typology and a new dataset, A complete data set of political regimes 18002007, Why monarchy persists in small states: The cases of Tonga, Bhutan and Liechtenstein, Digithque dematriaux juridiques et politiques. What local authorities do exist have few powers. On the other hand, a semi-constitutional monarchy lets the monarch or ruling royal family retain substantial political powers, as is the case in Jordan and Morocco. [12] Full parliamentary republican systems that do not have a directly elected head of state usually use either an electoral college or a vote in the legislature to appoint the president. Subnational monarchies or traditional monarchy . Although monarchy is a system of government with a single sovereign, monarchy took . Like Sweden, Spain fits into the category where a monarch holds powers for a short transitional phase as a country democratises. Yet, the question how much powers monarchs possess has not aroused a great deal of interest among political scientists. After the liberation of Greece, there was strong opposition towards the monarchy. Among the remaining cases, the monarch has possessed powers in only one or two spheres. The period 1688 to 1914 is bookmarked by a period of stagnation in the semi-absolutist Stuart period, and decline in the Windsor period. The following list includes democratic and non-democratic states: Full presidential systems In full presidential systems, the president is both head of state and head of government. 174225; Corbett et al., Citation2017, pp. Although the constitution was parliamentary and the prime minister was the dominant political actor, the king continued to exercise significant influence in the executive field. A state governed as a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme and any administrative divisions (sub-national units) exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. [online] Retrieved March 9, 2019, from, A new political system model: Semi-presidential government, Freedom House. As pressures for democratic reforms started in the absolute monarchy, King Tupou IV and his government responded by using all the strategies that Huntington outlines, including attempts to co-opt progressive elites, repression, prosecution, and intimidation (Corbett et al., Citation2017, p. 695). e HOG removal by other in practice (C) (v2exrmhgnp). ( 2017 ), we reach the conclusion that small size appears to be very important - Is the presidency powerful in China? Bhutan 201416, Greece 1874, 19551966, Liechtenstein 1921-2017, Monaco 19622017, Thailand 1975, 198390, 19922005, 201113. Since the monarch presumably can be expected to be reluctant to give up his or her powers, a handy compromise in a democratising country would be to let the monarch continue to exercise influence along with the prime minister rather than to abruptly strip him or her of all powers. Italy turned to democratic rule in 1919. In the long run, the monarch faced a zero-sum game; either try to retain his or her powers as an absolute monarch or be stripped of all powers and, at best, continue as a ceremonial head of state of a democracy. Based on the definition by Corbett et al. (Citation2017) point out that smallness is likely to counteract the gloomy prospects for the monarch outlined in the kings dilemma. Whereas Greece has switched between republic and monarchic forms of governments, Thailand has remained a monarchy, but oscillated between democracy and military rule. Although the dataset is useful for cross-country studies, it certainly has its limitations. Which of the following bodies would be likely to succeed in removing the head of government if it took actions (short of military force) to do so? (Yes = 5, head of state). a constitutional crisis or a political deadlock). Kailitz, Citation2013; Magaloni, Citation2008). 5. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy headed by the prince of Liechtenstein. States in which most power is exercised by the central government. In the V-dem dataset, the Belgian monarch is considered to have had a strong position with regard to government formation during the year 1918, the same year Belgium was liberated from German occupation. when countries move from autocracy to democracy for the first time), the regimes can eventually be substituted with authoritarian or democratic forms of government. The aim of the present study is to study to what extent the occurrence of semi-constitutional monarchies, i.e. The concept of semi-constitutional monarch identifies constitutional monarchies where the monarch retains substantial powers, on a par with a president in a presidential or semi-presidential system. It is notable that the constitution did not even contain a provision that the government must enjoy the confidence of parliament, although the principle was accepted implicitly (Caciagli, Citation2010, pp. The following list includes democratic and non-democratic states: Presidential systems without a prime minister Angola Artsakh Benin Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cyprus Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Gambia, The Ghana Guatemala Honduras Indonesia Kenya Liberia Malawi Maldives Mexico Nicaragua Nigeria Palau Panama [30] They may or may not also hold a seat in the legislature. Constitutional provisions for government are suspended in these states; constitutional forms of government are stated in parentheses. 3 E.g. 3099067 In practice, from which of the following bodies does the head of government customarily seek approval prior to making important decisions on domestic policy? (Yes = 5, head of state). The strong position of the hereditary monarch was attributed to the fact that the royal family of Laos had been extremely loyal to the French. A combined head of state and head of government in the form of an executive president is either elected by the legislature or by voters after candidates are nominated for the post by the legislature (in the case of Kiribati), and they must maintain the confidence of the legislature to remain in office. [online] Retrieved February 10, 2019, from, Hellenic Parliament. The introduction of a republic form of government in 1974 constitutes an example of a case where the monarch gradually loses his legitimacy among the population by stretching his constitutional prerogatives to its limit. In recent years, it has become much easier to make cross-country comparisons on the basis of political practice. I then proceed by excluding republics and independent countries ruled by the monarch of another country. In those rare cases, where semi-constitutional monarchic regimes become long-lived, the size of the political units plays an important role, suggesting that small size appears to be crucial for the legitimacy of strong monarchs in democratic settings. Bhutan 200917, Greece 18641914, 1935, 5066, Liechtenstein 19212017, Lesotho 200216, Luxembourg 190039, Monaco 19622017, Spain 1977, Thailand 1975, 8390, 922005, 201113, Belgium 190013, 191939, 4458, 602017, Denmark 19012017, Japan 19522017, Lesotho 2017, Netherlands 18881939, 19462017, Norway 190939, 19452017, Spain 19782017, Sweden 19182017, United Kingdom 18852017, Bhutan 200917, Liechtenstein 19212017, Luxembourg 19002017, Greece 18641914, Italy 191921, Nepal 19912001, Thailand 1975, 8390, 922005, 1113, Yugoslavia 192128. To begin with, some conceptual clarifications are needed. Thresholds within the size category are, to some extent, always arbitrary. After the fall of the military regime, voters approved the introduction of a republican form of government by a clear majority. The old constitution, the Statuto Albertino, was still in force and gave the monarch far reaching powers. In Table 4, the size dimension is combined with a dimension accounting for whether the powers of the monarch are related to a transitory stage from autocracy to democracy. . Iyer, Citation2019; Muni, Citation2014). 701702) conclude that, the significance of personalisation is magnified in small states due to the close proximity between the ruler and the ruled. (Citation2017), we reach the conclusion that small size appears to be very important for explaining why powerful monarchs persist in democracies. The list is colour-coded according to the type of government, for example: blue represents a republic with an executive head of state, and red is a constitutional monarchy with a ceremonial head of state. 110111). Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion in Thailand. g HOS dissolution in practice (C) (v2exdfdshs, *_osp, *_ord). The meaning of CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY is a system of government in which a country is ruled by a king and queen whose power is limited by a constitution.
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