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Constitutional monarchy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary
or elected monarch
as head
of state. Modern constitutional monarchies usually implement the
concept of trias politica, or "separation of powers", where
the monarch is the head of the executive branch. Where a monarch holds absolute
power, it is known as an absolute monarchy, and law within an absolute monarchy
can often be quite different from law within a constitutional monarchy.
Today, constitutional monarchy is almost always combined with representative democracy, and represents theories
of sovereignty which place sovereignty in the hands of the people, and those
that see a role for tradition in the theory of government. Though the king
or queen may be regarded as the head of state, it is the Prime Minister, whose power derives directly or
indirectly from elections, who actually governs the country.
Although current constitutional monarchies are mostly representative democracies,
this has not always historically been the case. There have been monarchies
which have coexisted with constitutions which were fascist (or quasi-fascist), as was the case in Italy,
Japan
and Spain,
or those in which the government is run as a military dictatorship, as was the case in Thailand.
Some constitutional monarchies are hereditary; others, such as that of Malaysia
are elective
monarchies. |