Monarchy

"I would rather obey a fine lion, much stronger than myself, than two hundred rats of my own species."

– Voltaire

Technically speaking a Monarchy is a system of government in which someone holds the formal title of Head of State until their death or abdication as a Monarch. Typically the title of Monarch is passed down in a family from parent to child, though there are exceptions. Related to Monarchy is Monarchism, the belief that Monarchy is the best form of government. Unlike other political ideologies (the various flavors of Capitalism, Communism, Democracy, Fascism, etc) Monarchism typically arises to justify an existing structure rather than propose and advocate a new one.

Monarchy has been the most common form of government for much of human history since the Bronze Age at least, though it has not been the case for all of human history. Going by our studies of hunter-gatherer peoples the way things were handled in Stone Age bands rules, matters of policy and other such collective action would be dealt with by having a meeting, talking it out and coming to a consensus. In larger tribes you'd have "Big Men" who'd win influence and some ceremonial roles through strength, charisma and generosity but didn't technically have the power to actually order anyone around. But once tribes began to grow beyond a certain point and you don't know everyone, these informal set ups don't really work. Monarchy was common as it is an easy system to put up. You just need an opportunist who has the right connections and assembles a team of prominent allies to establish themselves and maintain a position of power. Once the Leader dies, the coalition of backers puts the Leader's kid on the throne so the the good times continue to role setting a precedent which future leaders will follow even if the dynasty falls from power, dies out or is destroyed.

Monarchy has been in general been on the decline since the Age of Enlightenment and especially after The Great War. In short, from the French Revolution onward there's been an active push against Kings and Queens towards Federations, Republics, Corrupt Republics and various flavors of Dictatorship in which our Glorious Leader does not bother with a crown or leaving things to his son. There are some some exceptions of course, with hereditary dictatorships like Syria and North Korea.

Types of Monarchy

Please note that there are crossovers.

• Divine Monarchy: The Monarch is seen as being a God, at least a little bit. Usually the mythology includes the ruling dynasty being of divine descent, but other links to the divine have been contrived. IRL examples: Ancient Egypt and the Inca Empire. Japan pre-1945 technically counts as this as well, though the Emperor didn’t always have actual control over the nation and for long stretches of time the de facto government was a Feudal monarchy ruled by the Shogunate.
• Theocratic Monarchy: Related to Divine Monarchy, the Monarch is the Highest Priest in the nation's official Religious organization. Often this is also applied to the aristocracy which hold posts which are both religious and civic in nature. Though they don't claim to be divine themselves, the system and their position in it is justified by established religious power and authority. IRL examples: pre-modern India, the Vatican.
• Feudal Monarchy: Monarchy, pyramid scheme style. Generally works as a function of increasing scales to manage land. In Europe the lowest landholding class were knights, who typically held 1-2 thousand acres (~3-4 square miles) of land, which might be worked by several dozen families' worth of peasants who paid rent or labor service in exchange for being allowed to cultivate and live on said land. Above them were Barons/Lords, who might keep several to a dozen knights and hold control over a few dozen square miles of land, a Barony being roughly analogous to an American township and producing enough surplus food to sustain a small professional class (blacksmith, baker, brewer, etc). Above them were Counts/Earls, from which comes the modern word of County (a count's land); it was at this level that the Normans instituted Shire Reeves (Sheriffs) loyal to the Crown to enforce taxation and law independent of the meddling of lower aristocracy. Above this level (Dukes, etc.) you're really dealing with true nobility, the extended family of the monarch or rival families with competing claims, and their focus is more on politicking for control rather than administration. Feudalism is heavily associated with Europe and Japan at roughly the same time; though other monarchies throughout history featured nobles ruling under a king, what sets Feudalism apart is how rigid and codified it is, with an explicit set of duties and responsibilities that each tier owed to the tiers above and below each other. Offices and titles are also almost entirely hereditary; special offices may exist by appointment of the king, but they’re the exception and not the norm. Anyone who’s ever played Crusader Kings can tell you that, while Feudalism isn’t the most efficient form of governance as nobles might rebel against you more easily, it’s really difficult to rule a large mass of land directly without a very centralized and efficient bureaucracy in place. IRL examples: basically every monarchy in the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.
• Elected Monarchy: There are a bunch of Aristocrats which vote one of themselves to sit on the throne. Tends to be unstable and mired in the red tape of inter-dynastic bickering. Tended to work a lot better at the city-state scale (Venice). For some countries such as Medieval Scotland, in practice it’s still a hereditary monarchy, but the nobles had a right to name a new king if the heir was an insane, incompetent, tyrannical buffoon. IRL examples: The Holy Roman Empire, Poland before Austria, Russia and Prussia carved it up.
• Absolute Monarchy: "I Am The State." The Monarch has no formal limits on their power. Naturally, they tend to be very centralized. Nobles may exist, but they’re nowhere near as autonomous as in a feudal monarchy, and much of the monarch’s power is instead distributed through bureaucracy (which nobles may participate in but only by appointment). IRL Examples: The Russian Empire before First Russian Revolution (excluding Finland), Pre-Revolutionary France (except for a short 1789-1792 period), most dynasties of Imperial China.
• Parliamentary Monarchy: A Monarch's powers are outlined in a formal Constitution and much of the functioning of state is handled by representative democracy; in practice, the monarch typically ends up being little more than a figurehead. IRL Examples: Modern Britain, Nordic states.
• Semi-Constitutional Monarchy: A Monarch and democratically elected government share power, kinda like semi-presidential republics. IRL Examples: German Empire (parliament is democratically elected, but Chancellor is appointed by Kaiser), Russian Empire in 1905-1917 (while the elections were not the shining example of democracy, the existence of European-style parliament is enough to get it there).

Monarchy in Fiction

Monarchy tends to be represented a lot in speculative fiction. Largely because it's an easier thing to write about. People can more easily relate to a King or Queen or whatever who tries to grapple with issues than with a Parliament with hundreds of members each with their own constituents, party alignments, agendas, various degrees of hardness and softness on certain issues and the internal Horse Trading as they work out a version of a bill which at least half of them can give at least begrudging approval to.

Monarchy in Fantasy

Monarchy is the norm in Fantasy. So much so that people have argued that a lot of Fantasy can come off as Monarchist Propaganda. The truth is probably closer to the fact that most fantasy writers have no idea about medieval republics like Italian states, German free cities or Novgorod. Still, some fantasy series were indeed written by monarchists (like Tolkien or C. S. Lewis). There is also the fact that the old legends and stories that fantasy draws upon often has a monarchist bent: see the whole Arthurian mythos for this at it's most overt. But also the fact that if you live in a situation where you live in a monarchy and monarchy is the default form of government monarchism tends to worm it's way in.

Monarchy in Science Fiction

While not as prominent as it is in fantasy, Monarchy shows up in Science Fiction quite a bit. From alien Princesses to a future in which Crowned Leaders have come back into fashion for humanity, like in Dune and Battletech.

See Also

• Emperor

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