Monarchism

From Open Encyclopedia

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation.

Since the mid-19th century, monarchist movements have rarely defended monarchy on the basis of abstract, universal principles applicable to all nations, or even on the grounds that a monarchy would be the best or most practical government for the nation in question. Rather, monarchies have generally been defended on local symbolic grounds that they are a particular nation's link to the past. However, two things should be noted: as monarchists usually come from a pragmatic or precedent-based tradition (like many conservatives), they often do not have abstract, universal principles in any event (so while such may indeed exist, they are not where most monarchists are likely to be coming from); and, for the same practical reasons, monarchists tend to bring out the argument in terms readily understood by their adversaries or by undecided elements as it would not be practical to "preach to the choir," calling on principles which while possibly true are not accepted as true by their hearers.

Hence, post-19th century debates on whether to preserve a monarchy or to adopt a republican form of government have generally been debates over national identity, with the monarch generally serving as a symbol for other issues.

For example, in a countries like Belgium and The Netherlands anti-monarchist talk is often centered around the percieved symbolism of a monarch constrasting with those nation's political culture of egalitarianism. In Australia and Ireland, by constrast, debates over monarchy represent or represented debates whose driving force concerned each nation's relationship with the United Kingdom and the cultural heritage that that represents. In a nation like Saudi Arabia, finally, opposition to the monarchy may be synonmous with advocacy of democracy or Islamic fundamentalism. As monarchies take many different forms, so too do pro‐ and anti‐monarchy debates.

In some countries such as France, monarchism and some religion (Catholicism in the case of France) were long entangled ("the alliance of the Throne and the Altar"), and thus republican ideas were often tinged with anti-clericalism.