Monarchy

monarchy, form of government in which sovereignty is vested in a single person whose right to rule is generally hereditary and who is empowered to remain in office for life. The power of this sovereign may vary from the absolute (see despotism) to that strongly limited by custom or constitution. Monarchy has existed since the earliest history of humankind and was often established during periods of external threat or internal crisis because it provided a more efficient focus of power than aristocracy or democracy, which tended to diffuse power.

Most monarchies appear to have been elective originally, but dynasties early became customary. In primitive times, divine descent of the monarch was often claimed. Deification was general in ancient Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia, and it was also practiced during certain periods in ancient Greece and Rome. A more moderate belief arose in Christian Europe in the Middle Ages; it stated that the monarch was the appointed agent of divine will. This was symbolized by the coronation of the king by a bishop or the pope, as in the Holy Roman Empire.

Although theoretically at the apex of feudal power (see feudalism), the medieval monarchs were in fact weak and dependent upon the nobility for much of their power. During the Renaissance and after, there emerged "new monarchs" who broke the power of the nobility and centralized the state under their own rigid rule. Notable examples are Henry VII and Henry VIII of England and Louis XIV of France. The 16th and 17th cent. mark the height of absolute monarchy, which found its theoretical justification in the doctrine of divine right. However, even the powerful monarchs of the 17th cent. were somewhat limited by custom and constitution as well as by the delegation of powers to strong bureaucracies. Such limitations were also felt by the "benevolent despots" of the 18th cent.

Changes in intellectual climate, in the demands made upon government in a secular and commercially expanding society, and in the social structure, as the bourgeoisie became increasingly powerful, eventually weakened the institution of monarchy in Europe. The Glorious Revolution in England (1688) and the French Revolution (1789) were important landmarks in the decline and limitation of monarchical power. Throughout the 19th cent. royal power was increasingly reduced by constitutional provisions and parliamentary incursions.

In the 20th cent., monarchs have generally become symbols of national unity, while real power has been transferred to constitutional assemblies. Over the past 200 years democratic self-government has been established and extended to such an extent that a true functioning monarchy is a rare occurrence in both East and West. Among the few remaining are Brunei, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Notable constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Thailand.

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monarchy

Undivided sovereignty or rule by a single person, who is the permanent head of state. The term is now used to refer to countries with hereditary sovereigns. The monarch was the ideal head of the new nation-states of the 16th and 17th centuries; his powers were nearly unlimited (see absolutism), though in Britain Parliament was able to restrict the sovereign's freedom of action, particularly through the Magna Carta (1215) and the Bill of Rights (1689). The old idea that the monarch represented (within the limits of his dominions) the rule of God over all things culminated in the 17th century in the doctrine of the divine right of kings (see divine kingship), exemplified by Louis XIV. Monarchical absolutism adapted to the Enlightenment by evolving into “benevolent despotism,” as typified by the rule of Catherine II of Russia. The French Revolution dealt absolute monarchy a crushing blow, and World War I effectively destroyed what remained of it, the rulers of Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary being held responsible for the war and postwar misery. The institution developed into the constitutional monarchy in western Europe, though absolute (or near-absolute) monarchies continue to exist in the Middle East.

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monarchy

1. a form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a king, and whose powers can vary from those of an absolute despot to those of a figurehead

2. a country reigned over by a king, prince, or other monarch

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Monarchy 

in exploitative states, a form of government in which supreme state power is formally concentrated, either completely or partially, in the hands of an individual head of state, the monarch. The monarchical form of government, which existed in slaveholding and feudal societies, has been preserved in a number of bourgeois states.

In slaveholding states the monarchy was usually an unlimited despotism (sometimes, a theocracy). Monarchy is most typical of feudalism. The early feudal monarchy, which sometimes ruled over vast feudal empires, gave way to the monarchy of the period of feudal fragmentation, which was characterized by weak central power. Later feudal forms include the limited estate monarchy and the unlimited, or absolute, monarchy. As a rule, bourgeois monarchical states have limited, constitutional monarchies that developed out of a compromise between the bourgeoisie and the nobility. In the contemporary bourgeois monarchy the monarch’s power is limited by a constitution—that is, legislative functions are transferred to a parliament, and executive functions to the government. The constitutional monarch is legally the supreme bearer of executive power and the head of the judicial system. Formally, he has the power to appoint and replace ministers, command the military and police forces, issue edicts, and ban laws adopted by parliament or delay their coming into force. He also has the right of legislative initiative and the right to dissolve parliament. However, in practice these powers are usually completely in the hands of the government: the monarch “reigns, but does not rule.” V. I. Lenin noted that “monarchy in general is not uniform and immutable. It is a very flexible institution, and one capable of adapting itself to the various types of class rule” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 20, p. 359).