发布时间 : 星期四 文章What is the role of the monarchy in modern Britain更新完毕开始阅读1998b78ba0116c175f0e484d
What is the role of the monarchy in modern Britain? Can it be justified empirically and theoretically?
Research Skills & Methods in Political Science
Ben Aston 05.06.03
What is the role of the monarchy in modern Britain? Can it be justified empirically and theoretically?
This essay will first examine the role of the monarchy, taking modern Britain as a focus for examination and seek to answer whether or not it can be justified empirically and theoretically. A Most Similar Systems Design will be used to compare the Dutch and Spanish monarchies with the British monarchy whilst a Most Dissimilar System Design will be used to examine the French Presidential Republican system. This will be done to ascertain whether or not the British monarchy can be justified empirically.
For the purposes of this essay it is necessary to establish what will be understood by the key terms in the question. Role will be understood to be the role of the monarchy both
constitutionally and non-constitutionally. The rationale for this is the Queen plays an important non-constitutional as well as constitutional role which could justify her position. Defining what the ‘modern monarchy’ is and when it came into existence is a debate in itself. However, for the purposes of this essay it will be understood to mean the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne in 1953, because as Tony Blair described during the Jubilee Celebrations, the Queen “adapted the monarchy successfully to the modern world.”1 The word ‘monarchy’ is in itself a contestable term. Dearlove suggests that it is the ‘raft of people who are paid out of the civil list’2 and for the purposes of this essay, that understanding will be adopted. For the second part of the question, ‘justified empirically’ will be understood to mean comparable to other presidential and monarchical systems, in terms of achieving the same role at the same cost of similar or alternative systems. ‘Justified theoretically’ will be understood to mean comparable to other to presidential and monarchical systems, inasmuch as providing an effective head of state, and filling any comparable roles.
Until the end of the 17th Century, British monarchs were executive monarchs giving them the power to make and pass legislation. Since the beginning of the 18th Century, the monarch became a constitutional monarch, binding them with rules and conventions and ensuring their political impartiality. Since the reign of Queen Victoria the monarchy’s direct and effective constitutional power has remain limited and Monarch’s act largely on the advice of ministers.
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Tony Blair, 2002
Interview with Prof. John Dearlove, 2003
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Britain’s constitutional monarchy means that through the Royal Prerogative, the monarchy has transferred much of their real power to the executive. Constitutionally, the prerogative powers delegated to the executive are officially retained by the monarchy. These include the powers to make war, peace, and treaties, dissolve parliament, remove and replace the Prime Minister as well as appoint Judges, Civil Servants, Magistrates, Councillors and Commanders in the Armed Forces.
The monarch is Head of State and the Commonwealth. The Monarch has power to confer peerages, knighthoods and other honours. The Monarch has powers to enact legislation as well as to summon and dissolve parliament. The Monarch appoints the prime minister and has the right to be consulted, 'advise and warn'.
The Monarch plays important constitutional roles in other organisations, including the Armed Forces and the Church of England. The monarch is commander of the armed forces; soldiers will swear allegiance to the crown rather than to the state. In this sense, the monarchy is “intelligible” as she is the personification of the British State. People can swear loyalty to the state, a social construction, via the monarchy. The Monarch is also Governor of the Church of England.
As well as the constitutional role, the monarch also has a non constitutional role. “As well as carrying out significant constitutional functions, the Queen acts as a focus for national unity, presiding at ceremonial occasions, visiting local communities and representing Britain around the world.”3
The majority of the Queen’s workload consists of representing the state at home and abroad. This helps raise the profile of the nation, and attracts the interest of the foreign public and media. “They provide a focus, and a great deal of apolitical continuity. They are a figurehead for the country and foreigners are fascinated by them.”4
One of the key defences of the monarchy is that she attracts tourism, and without her role, raising the profile of the nation overseas, and representing the UK in an apolitical role, tourism would suffer. The effect of this is of course intangible. Although there are ‘figures’, the value of 34
http://www.royal.gov.uk
Interview with Lord Janner 2003
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these are negligible. It would be impossible and ridiculous to ask all tourists into the country whether or not they were attracted to the country because of the monarchy.
An important intangible and non-constitutional role of the monarchy is acting as a symbolic figurehead for the country. In his seminal work Bagehot describes the monarchy as the ‘dignified part of the constitution’. He suggests it ‘excites and preserves the reverence of the population’. The monarchy is the symbolic head of Britain representing the ‘intelligible part of the constitution’ for the average Briton. A survey showed 50% of people said they felt the monarchy made them feel more British and 48% of people saw the most important role of the monarchy as a figurehead for the country. (See Appendix I).
It is important to examine the role of the monarchy through the ‘eyes’ of various theories of the state. The monarchy provides an interesting case study of modern pluralist interaction. For many, the former ‘magic’ of the monarchy has disappeared, the Royal Family proving to be fallible. They are merely another group attempting to maximize their interests through the state. Neo-pluralism would note the constant change of modern society, and how the Royal family has coped with staying relevant to the public. Despite their diminishing powers, the monarchy has remained an influential and relatively strong institution. This is in part due to the steady public support for the monarchy. The abolishment of the crown is only sought by a minority; change is not in the interests of British society at large. If there was a majority that wanted to remove the crown, it would undoubtedly happen.
However, the role of the modern monarchy also affects the position of the state as the ‘arbiter’ between interest groups. There has been recent concern over the increasingly ‘presidential’ role of the British PM, and this is primarily tied in with the lack of clarity regarding the role of the head of state. In pluralist terms, this presents a danger to the capacity of the state to maximize the interests of different groups in society. In many ways, the executive is becoming a new ‘monarch’.
Classic Marxist thinking would see the shift in modern times from an absolute monarchy to liberal constitutional regimes across Europe as a reflection of the industrial revolution. This state of affairs initially fostered stable accumulation of capital, and was an evolution of society toward a state-free utopia. Many theoretical defences of the British monarchy can be critically examined through Marxist ideas. Bagehot’s defence of the ‘dignified’ monarchy is almost an
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