Monarchism

Monarchism is the support of having a monarchy - an unelected, sovereign individual head of state, usually a king or queen, or an emperor. While many countries in the world now practice democratic republicanism or some other form of democratic politics that has no recourse to a monarch, many monarchies still exist.

Constitutional monarchies exist where the monarch is bound by a constitution - written or unwritten - while the ruler in absolute monarchies has no such limitations and may rule autocratically.

In the United Kingdom, power is formally exercised in the name of the Crown: criminal court cases are reported as R v. Smith (say), where R is short for 'Regina', and are referred to in speech as "The Queen v. Smith". The monarch formally asks the winner of the general election to form a government, appoints the Prime Minister, and the monarch formally dissolves Parliament. Upon forming a government, the planned legislative programme of that government is announced as the King's Speech or Queen's Speech and is formally given by the monarch in the upper chamber. The monarch still has an almost theoretical Royal Prerogative: the monarch may withhold Royal Assent from an Act of Parliament, although this power has never been exercised since 1707. The Crown also appoints peerages, appoints members to the orders of chivalry and grants honours and knighthoods. The monarch in the United Kingdom is also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and archbishops are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, and must therefore be an Anglican in faith.

Arguing for monarchism and republicanism

Those who oppose monarchy argue that a monarchy denies a basic democratic right to citizens: that is, determining the head of state by an open election in which anyone who meets the relevant qualifications of office can run. It is thus anti-meritocratic and elitist.