[online] Retrieved May 30, 2016, from, Constitution-making in Bhutan: A complex and sui generis experience, Country size and the survival of authoritarian monarchies: Developing a new argument, Classifying political regimes revisited: Legitimation and durability, Introduction: Understanding Thailands politics, Millennialism, Theravada Buddhism, and Thai Society, Credible power-sharing and the longevity of authoritarian rule, Center for Systemic Peace, George Mason University, Network monarchy and legitimacy crises in Thailand, Seeking more power, Thailands new king is moving the country away from being a constitutional monarchy, More inequality, more killings: The Maoist insurgency in Nepal, Portugals semi-presidentialism (re)considered: An assessment of the presidents role in the policy process, 19762006, The Kingdom of Bhutan: A democracy by obligation, Review article: Citizens, presidents and assemblies: The study of semi-presidentialism beyond Duverger and Linz, Semi-presidential systems: Dual executive and mixed authority patterns, Democracy from above: Regime transition in the Kingdom of Bhutan, Different types of data and the validity of democracy measures. Veenendaal (Citation2013, p. 58) notes that [i]n both countries, executive and judicial power is traditionally located in the hands of the Prince, who delegates this power to selfappointed government ministers and judges. (Citation2017) argue, is linked to two features that are likely to make monarchies persist in democratic settings, institutional fidelity and personalisation (see also Jugl, Citation2020, p. 287). For more information please visit our Permissions help page. The second category consists of similar cases in which democracy did not consolidate, and the country returned to autocracy. Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchies 1. In Monaco, the powers of the Prince are even greater. 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. In Liechtenstein the Prince Regnant appoints the government, which must enjoy the confidence of both the legislature and the Prince Regnant. The president is head of state and the prime minister is head of government, although the prime minister generally works under the discretion of the former more so than in a premier-presidential system. Bhutan 201416, Greece, 1874, 195566, Liechtenstein 19212017, Monaco 19622017, Thailand 1975, 198390, 19922005, 1113. In many ways this make perfect sense; since there is no place for a powerful hereditary monarch in a democratic system, one could argue that systems with powerful monarchs do not qualify as democracies. States in which the national government shares power with regional governments with which it has legal or constitutional parity. In a widely cited article, McCargo (Citation2005) uses the term network monarchy in order to describe Thailands mode of governance. Yet, the results of the present study show, that monarchs have possessed significant powers in a substantial part of the democratic countries with a monarch as head of state. I then proceeded by testing the assumption that semi-constitutional monarchies would emerge primarily in countries which transit from autocratic monarchies to democracies and that small size was conducive for the survival of the regime type in question. (Citation2013; Citation2018), who make use of a dichotomous qualitative scale, classifying more than 200 countries as either democracies or autocracies on a yearly basis for the time period 18002015. Based on a study of Bhutan, Liechtenstein, and Tonga, Corbett et al., Citation2017 (pp. The authors define as semi-constitutional monarchies 'systems in which the actions of monarchs are circumscribed by a constitution, but in which monarchs, as independent and autonomous political actors, nonetheless have the capacity to exert a large measure of political influence' Corbett et al. What local authorities do exist have few powers. The president chooses a prime minister and cabinet from the parliament with approval from the parliament, however only the parliament may remove them from office with a vote of no confidence. In other words, it reflects a complete transformation of power, where the monarch is confined to the position as a ceremonial head of state. The present study takes as its point of departure the dataset by Boix et al. At present, there are no signs that the new monarch, King Varjiralongkorn, would accept a mere ceremonial role in Thai politics. 3 E.g. Note: this chart represent de jure systems of government, not the de facto degree of democracy. Under Canada's system of responsible government, the Crown is a vital part of the legislative, executive and judicial powers that govern the country. For the sake of parsimony, I restrict the analysis to four power dimensions. [2] However, since 1993, as a matter of convention, the presidency has been held simultaneously by the General Secretary of the Communist Party, the top leader in the one-party system who heads the Politburo and the Secretariat. 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. Sweden, again, passed the threshold of democracy in 1911, when universal male suffrage was introduced. Monarch. It is particularly noteworthy that all three long-lasting semi-constitutional monarchies are characterised by their extreme smallness. In contrast to the King, the Belgian government had been in exile during the war, and new elections did not take place until 1919. in 2015, would fall below the threshold of democracy in 2015: Albania, East Timor, El Salvador, Guyana, India, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, and Solomon Islands. 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. On the other hand, there are many systems classified as democracies by most reputable categorizations or indices where the monarch has, or has had, more or less the same position as a president in a semi-presidential system. These regimes lack a constitutional basis. Among the other cases, only Greece between 1864 and 1914 qualify as a long-term semi-constitutional monarchy. Although Governor-Generals are formally appointed by the British monarch, their connection to the British Crown is often very vague. These cases, however, refer to exceptional periods in the history of the countries. [6] However, as Corbett et al. 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. 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. The fact that the monarch generally has exercised influence from behind the scenes is another important factor for the stability of the monarchy, as it has meant that he has not been accountable for unpopular decisions. States that have a system of government that is in transition or turmoil. Table 4. aDisregarding periods of occupation during WW1 and WW2. In Greece, the monarchy was restored in 1935, after a referendum installed (and probably heavily rigged) by Prime minister and General Georgios Kondylis. Results are presented in Table 2 and they tell us that the number of cases and countries where a monarch possesses powers is surprisingly high. Among the remaining cases, the monarch has possessed powers in only one or two spheres. g HOS dissolution in practice (C) (v2exdfdshs, *_osp, *_ord). 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. Semi-constitutional monarchic regimes emerge in former autocratic monarchies as they democratise and rarely persist for long periods. 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. Whereas, the relationship between presidents and prime ministers has been widely discussed in the literature on semi-presidentialism (e.g. Specifically, monarchies in which the monarch's exercise of power is unconstrained by any substantive constitutional law. Note: EP=Executive powers; LP=Legislative powers; DPP=Domestic policy powers; DP=Dissolution powers. Like Sweden, Spain fits into the category where a monarch holds powers for a short transitional phase as a country democratises. Nevertheless, it is evident that in comparison with other monarchs operating within a democratic framework, the Prince of Monaco is an extremely powerful actor in terms of both constitution and practice (see Chagnollaud de Sabouret, Citation2015; DOnario, Citation2014). The long reign of King Bhumibol also meant that he could gradually consolidate his position as Pater Patriae. However, semi-constitutional monarchies do not always exist as a transitional phase during which democracy is introduced and subsequently consolidated. Unlike in Sweden and Spain, where the monarch retained some powers during a transitional phase as democracy consolidated, the Yugoslavian monarch gradually increased his powers, and in 1929, he abolished the constitution and concentrated powers into his own hands, thus returning Yugoslavia to the category of autocratic systems. In the subsequent years, King Constantine appointed a number of governments, all of which lasted for short periods of time. Liechtenstein, a microstate landlocked between Austria and Switzerland, is a semi-constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary prince as its head of state. 174225; Corbett et al., Citation2017, pp. In these cases, the V-dem database considers the Governor-General as the head of state. Democracies with a monarch as head of state 18002017. Still, with regard to the other prerogatives, the cells are far from empty. All countries where the monarch has been in position of powers in any of the four dimensions listed in Table 3 are included.