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Popular monarchy is a term used by Kingsley Martin (1936) for monarchical titles referring to a people rather than a territory. This was the norm in classical antiquity and throughout much of the Middle Ages , and such titles were retained in some of the monarchies of 19th- and 20th-century Europe.
- Overview
- Functions of monarchies
Monarchy is a political system in which supreme authority is vested in the monarch, an individual ruler who functions as head of state. It typically acts as a political-administrative organization and as a social group of nobility known as “court society.”
What is the difference between monarchy and democracy?
Monarchy is a political system based on the sovereignty of a single ruler. Democracy, a term that means “rule by the people,” is a political system in which laws, policies, leaders, and major state undertakings are decided directly or indirectly by the citizens.
What is the divine right to rule in a monarchy?
The divine right to rule, also known as the “divine right of kings,” is a political doctrine asserting that monarchs derive their authority from God and cannot be held accountable for their actions by human means. The divine-right theory can be traced to the medieval European conception that God awarded earthly power to the political authority and spiritual power to church authorities.
What is a constitutional monarchy?
A monarchy consists of distinct but interdependent institutions—a government and a state administration on the one hand, and a court and a variety of ceremonies on the other—that provide for the social life of the members of the dynasty, their friends, and the associated elite. Monarchy thus entails not only a political-administrative organization but also a “court society,” a term coined by the 20th-century German-born sociologist Norbert Elias to designate various groups of nobility (like the British nobility) that are linked to the monarchical dynasty (or “royal” house, as with the House of Windsor) through a web of personal bonds. All such bonds are evident in symbolic and ceremonial proprieties.
During a given society’s history there are certain changes and processes that create conditions conducive to the rise of monarchy. Because warfare was the main means of acquiring fertile land and trade routes, some of the most prominent monarchs in the ancient world made their initial mark as warrior-leaders. Thus, the military accomplishments of Octavian (later Augustus) led to his position as emperor and to the institution of monarchy in the Roman Empire. Infrastructural programs and state-building also contributed to the development of monarchies. The need, common in arid cultures, to allocate fertile land and manage a regime of fresh water distribution (what the German American historian Karl Wittfogel called hydraulic civilization) accounted for the founding of the ancient Chinese, Egyptian, and Babylonian monarchies on the banks of rivers. The monarchs also had to prove themselves as state-builders.
Monarchy also results from the wish of a society—be it a city population, tribe, or multi-tribal “people”—to groom an indigenous leader who will properly represent its historical achievements and advance its interests. Monarchy, therefore, rests on the cultural identity and symbolism of the society it represents, and in so doing it reifies that identity within the society while also projecting it to outsiders. Perhaps most importantly, successful and popular monarchs were believed to have a sacred right to rule: some were regarded as gods (as in the case of the Egyptian pharaohs or the Japanese monarchs), some were crowned by priests, others were designated by prophets (King David of Israel), and still others were theocrats, leading both the religious and political spheres of their society—as did the caliphs of the Islamic state from the 7th century ce. Coming from these varying backgrounds, leaders first rose to power on the grounds of their abilities and charisma. Accordingly, monarchies proved capable of adapting to various social structures while also enduring dynamic cultural and geopolitical conditions. Thus, some ancient monarchies evolved as small city-states while others became large empires, the Roman Empire being the most conspicuous example.
Britannica Quiz
- Joseph Kostiner
Jun 2, 2020 · Find out the types of monarchy like a hereditary, executive, absolute, and constitutional monarchy. ... The best example of an absolute monarchy is ... also called a ...
A monarchy is a form of ... Since then advocacy of the abolition of a monarchy or respectively of republics has been called ... (e.g. a popular or ...
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Apr 22, 2021 · A monarchy is a form of government in which total sovereignty is invested in one person, a head of state called a monarch, who holds the position until death or abdication. Monarchs usually both hold and achieve their position through the right of hereditary succession (e.g., they were related, often the son or daughter, of the previous monarch ...
Aug 31, 2019 · Monarchy is a hereditary system of government in which only one person (e.g. a king or a queen) rules over a sovereign state or region. A monarch refers to the ruler in charge of a monarchical government. Unlike a democratically elected ruler, a monarch ascends the throne with no fixed term of office.
May 1, 2024 · monarch, head of state of a monarchy, a state in which sovereignty resides in an individual ruler. Monarchs often achieve their status through heredity, such that rulership passes from parent to child or to another close relative in a royal family. Though a monarch is head of state, they are not necessarily head of government.
