increasing the capacity of a system to maintain and apply complex modern
politics oriented to satisfying as many different political interests as possible. So
much is modernization seen as a stage of historical development that it is not
absurd to talk of ‘post-modern’ societies, those which have passed through the
primary industrial stage on to something else—though what that something
else might be is usually unclear.
Monarchy
A monarchy is a state ruled by an individual who has a position at the apex of
an aristocratic pyramid of honour andauthoritywhich is generally inherited
through a family connection. Monarchy is a very ancient system of govern-
ment (it was, indeed, one ofAristotle’sthree basic forms of good govern-
ment, along with aristocracy and democracy) which developed
independently in various continents; many monarchial systems seem to have
started with some form of election, with the succession later becoming
hereditary by primogeniture and, until recent decades, usually male primo-
geniture. Now that we have elected rulers of other types, the notion of an
elected monarch would seem superfluous. In many cases the monarch would
be endowed with some form of religious significance, for example as the
person chosen by God to head and protect the church in their nation (see
divine right), or even with a form of godhead themself.
The most common form of monarchy today is constitutional monarchy,
where the monarch has strictly limited powers and must accept the role and
power of other bodies, such asparliamentsandcabinets. Constitutional
monarchies are found particularly in Northern Europe, where there are seven
(Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the
United Kingdom; in addition, the British monarch is head of state of 16 other
Commonwealthmembers). A constitutional monarchy was reintroduced in
Spain after the death ofFrancoin 1975. The constitutional monarch typically
has a residual role to play in helping the formation of new governments after an
election, or in granting to the government the authority to dissolve parliament
and call an election, much as have many presidents in systems where the
president ishead of state. In some countries, Sweden being the best example,
even these residual powers have been stripped away. It would be wrong to
dismiss entirely the potential political significance of monarchy. In some
countries, the UK, Norway and the Netherlands being good examples, the
symbolic authority is very high among certain sectors. Few military officers,
for example, take entirely lightly the idea that their commissions come from
the monarch, and might show much more loyalty to a king or queen than to a
government, given the military distaste for politics, were a clash to arise. More
generally monarchs as heads of state serve as a more clearly neutral symbol of
Monarchy