When a person thinks of a Monarchy they think of Kings and Queens and such. Today the most famous Monarchy is the Monarchy in England. What most people do not know is that the Queen of England does not do much to do with legislature and is more of a figure to unite the nation. Look back at Monarchy of the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, when Monarchs had real power. Monarchs were very effective when it came to getting what they wanted for their country. Democracy is the type of government in the United States, it is also effective but it takes longer when it comes to legislature because more people have to be pleased. Monarchy is more effective when it comes to making changes because it does not go through series of process where there are a lot of people that have to deem something good or not.
The American government has a system called a democracy. A democracy is government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.(Dictionary.com) Having a law past in America can go from a couple of months, to a couple of years because of all the people that have to agree to getting the law passed. The government is comprised of the system called checks and balances so that no one has to much power. Checks and balances are limits imposed on all branches of a government by vesting in each branch the right to amend or void those acts of another that fall within its purview (Dictionary.com). The American government is effective but not as effective as absolute monarchy.
A Monarchy is a state or nation in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch (Dictionary.com) So basically the person who is the monarch has supreme power and is considered "sovereign". There are two types of monarchy, absolute monarchy and limited monarchy. Absolute monarchy is a monarchy that is not limited or restrained by laws or a constitution (Dictionary.com). Limited Monarchy is a monarchy that is limited by laws of a constitution (Dictionary.com). The Monarchy that the Tudor Dynasty belonged to was an absolute monarchy and England was ruled with monarchies such as these until after parliament took a change around the time of Edward VI. The most famous Monarchy today is the Monarchy in England. The monarchy that England has today is a limited monarchy. Today's English Monarchy is more of a promotion of National Unity. They are more for show because they mostly go to events and carry out important deeds and charity. The monarchs of England today are called constitutional monarchs. When the constitution of England was formed around 1688 the monarchs lost a bit more of power. Walter Bagehot was a wealthy englishman who wrote about the English Constituion. He wrote about the English Monarchy and said that the "Sovereign" have three rights which are: "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn" (History and Background).
Laws in older England, when Monarchs had more power, did not take very long to get passed. The more trouble was making sure everyone in the country new the law. A good example of this is the reign of the Tudor monarchs. In a true monarchy, the king or queen rules everything and has a set of advisors. Laws can be made very quickly and only needed the yes or no of the monarch. One of the main problems with the monarchy of the Tudor times is that the power would sometime go to their heads and they would ignore the plight of their people. Such as Queen Mary who turned the Protestant England back to Roman Catholicism and persecuted Protestants in England. In her persecutions about 800 wealthy protestants exiled themselves from England, and 284 were executed. One of the main problems with absolute monarchy is that when monarchs change there is a possibility of having a very different monarch, which is what happened with the Tudors. Henry VIII was for England being Protestant, as was his son. Then Mary changed England to being under Rome's rule but when Elizabeth changed England back to being Protestant. Monarchs are very quick when it comes to changing things they do not like where as in a democracy it would take a longer time to get change.
There is a large difference between what is more effective and what is better. Democracy is better because the people of a country have more input into what happens with their rights and laws. The chance of an uprising occurring in a democratic government is not as high as an uprising happening in a Monarch ruled government.
Monarchy is more effective than government because there is not such as hassle for legislation like there is in a democracy. Although a democracy is all around better than a monarchy Monarchs have more effect.
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It's an interesting argument you make, but I would ask: if monarchies are better, then why have most been replaced by other forms of government?
ReplyDeleteAlso, please do use more primary sources directly in support of your thesis. That's a crucial aspect of academic writing.