Monarchy

In exploitative states, a form of government in which supreme state power is formally concentrated, either completely or partially, in the hands of an individual head of state, the monarch. The monarchical form of government, which existed in slaveholding and feudal societies, has been preserved in a number of bourgeois states.
In slaveholding states the monarchy was usually an unlimited despotism (sometimes, a theocracy). Monarchy is most typical of feudalism. The early feudal monarchy, which sometimes ruled over vast feudal empires, gave way to the monarchy of the period of feudal fragmentation, which was characterized by weak central power. Later feudal forms include the limited estate monarchy and the unlimited, or absolute, monarchy. As a rule, bourgeois monarchical states have limited, constitutional monarchies that developed out of a compromise between the bourgeoisie and the nobility. In the contemporary bourgeois monarchy the monarch’s power is limited by a constitution—that is, legislative functions are transferred to a parliament, and executive functions to the government. The constitutional monarch is legally the supreme bearer of executive power and the head of the judicial system. Formally, he has the power to appoint and replace ministers, command the military and police forces, issue edicts, and ban laws adopted by parliament or delay their coming into force. He also has the right of legislative initiative and the right to dissolve parliament. However, in practice these powers are usually completely in the hands of the government: the monarch “reigns, but does not rule.” V. I. Lenin noted that “monarchy in general is not uniform and immutable. It is a very flexible institution, and one capable of adapting itself to the various types of class rule” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 20, p. 359).
Category:Government