Monarchism

In 1966, the Central African Republic was overthrown at the hands of Jean-Bédel Bokassa during the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état. He established the Central African Empire and ruled as Emperor Bokassa I until 1979, when he was subsequently deposed during Operation Caban and Central Africa returned to republican rule.

In 1974, one of the world's oldest monarchies was abolished in Ethiopia with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie.

China possessed a monarchy from prehistoric times up until 1912, when Emperor Puyi was deposed. He was briefly restored to the throne for twelve days during the Manchu Restoration in 1917, but this was attempt was quickly undone by republican forces. The end of the Chinese monarchy ushered in the Republic of China.

Monarchism possessed an important role in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and also played a role in the modern political affairs of Nepal. Nepal was one of the last states to have had an absolute monarch, which continued until King Gyanendra was peacefully deposed in May 2008 and the country became a federal republic.

In England, royalty ceded power elsewhere in a gradual process. In 1215, a group of nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, which guaranteed its barons certain liberties and established that the king's powers were not absolute. In 1687–88, the Glorious Revolution and the overthrow of King James II established the principles of constitutional monarchy, which would later be worked out by Locke and other thinkers. However, absolute monarchy, justified by Hobbes in Leviathan (1651), remained a prominent principle elsewhere. In the 18th century, Voltaire and others encouraged "enlightened absolutism", which was embraced by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and by Catherine II of Russia.

In 1685 the Enlightenment began.[7] This would result in new anti-monarchist ideas[8] which resulted in several revolutions such as the 18th century American Revolution and the French Revolution which were both additional steps in the weakening of power of European monarchies. Each in its different way exemplified the concept of popular sovereignty upheld by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 1848 then ushered in a wave of revolutions against the continental European monarchies.

World War I and its aftermath saw the end of three major European monarchies: the Russian Romanov dynasty, the German Hohenzollern dynasty, including all other German monarchies and the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg dynasty.

Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed. The Constitutional Assembly of German Austria passed the Habsburg Law, which permanently exiled the Habsburg family from Austria. Despite this, significant support for the Habsburg family persisted in Austria. Following the Anschluss, the Nazi Government suppressed monarchist activities. By the time Nazi rule ended in Austria, support for monarchism had largely evaporated.[9]

In Hungary, the rise of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 provoked an increase in support for monarchism; however, efforts by Hungarian monarchists failed to bring back a royal head of state, and the monarchists settled for a regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, to represent the monarchy until it could be restored. Horthy was regent from 1920 to 1944. During Horthy's rule, attempts were made by Karl von Habsburg to return to the Hungarian throne, which ultimately failed. Following Karl's death, his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary was inherited by Otto von Habsburg, although no further attempts were made to seize the Hungarian throne.

In 1920s Germany a number of monarchists gathered around the German National People's Party which demanded the return of the Hohenzollern monarchy and an end to the Weimar Republic; the party retained a large base of support until the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, as Adolf Hitler was staunchly opposed to monarchism.

In Spain, the 1938 autocratic state of Francisco Franco claimed to have reconstituted the Spanish monarchy in absentia (and in this case ultimately yielded to a restoration, in the person of King Juan Carlos).

With the arrival of socialism in Eastern Europe by the end of 1947, the remaining Eastern European monarchies, namely the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Albania, the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, were all abolished and replaced by socialist republics.

The aftermath of World War II also saw the return of monarchist and republican rivalry in Italy, where a referendum was held on whether the state should remain a monarchy or become a republic. The republican side won the vote by a narrow margin, and the modern Republic of Italy was created.

Monarchism as a political force internationally has substantially diminished since the end of the Second World War in Europe.

British political scientist Vernon Bogdanor justifies monarchy on the grounds that it provides for a nonpartisan head of state, separate from the head of government, and thus ensures that the highest representative of the country, at home and internationally, does not represent a particular political party, but all people.[12] Bogdanor also notes that monarchies can play a helpful unifying role in a multinational state, noting that "In Belgium, it is sometimes said that the king is the only Belgian, everyone else being either Fleming or Walloon" and that the British sovereign can belong to all of the United Kingdom's constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), without belonging to any particular one of them.[12]

The International Monarchist League, founded in 1943, has always sought to promote monarchy on the grounds that it strengthens popular liberty, both in a democracy and in a dictatorship, because by definition the monarch is not beholden to politicians.

British-American libertarian writer Matthew Feeney argues that European constitutional monarchies "have managed for the most part to avoid extreme politics"—specifically fascism, communism, and military dictatorship—"in part because monarchies provide a check on the wills of populist politicians" by representing entrenched customs and traditions.[13] Feeny notes that

European monarchies - such as the Danish, Belgian, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, and British - have ruled over countries that are among the most stable, prosperous, and free in the world.[13]

Socialist writer George Orwell argued a similar point, that constitutional monarchy is effective at preventing the development of Fascism.

"The function of the King in promoting stability and acting as a sort of keystone in a non-democratic society is, of course, obvious. But he also has, or can have, the function of acting as an escape-valve for dangerous emotions. A French journalist said to me once that the monarchy was one of the things that have saved Britain from Fascism...It is at any rate possible that while this division of function exists a Hitler or a Stalin cannot come to power. On the whole the European countries which have most successfully avoided Fascism have been constitutional monarchies...I have often advocated that a Labour government, i.e. one that meant business, would abolish titles while retaining the Royal Family.’[14]

In a 1943 essay in The Spectator, "Equality", British author C.S. Lewis criticized egalitarianism, and its corresponding call for the abolition of monarchy, as contrary to human nature, writing,

A man's reaction to Monarchy is a kind of test. Monarchy can easily be 'debunked'; but watch the faces, mark well the accents, of the debunkers. These are the men whose tap-root in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach—men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch...Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes, or film-stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.[15]

Notable works arguing in favor of monarchy include

The following is a list of former monarchies and their percentage of public support for monarchism.

Country	Polling firm/source	Sample size	Percentage of supporters	Date conducted	Ref.
Austria	[note 2]	[note 2]	20%[note 2]	[note 2]	[32]
Barbados	University of the West Indies	500	12%	November 2021	[33]
Brazil	Círculo Monárquico Brasileiro	188	32%	September 2019	[34]
Croatia	Consilium Regium Croaticum	1,759	41%	2019	[35]
Czech Republic	SC&C Market Research		13%	2018	[36]
France	BVA Group	953	17%	March 2007	[37]
Georgia	Doctrina	560	30%	July 2015	[38]
Germany	YouGov	1,041	16%	April 2016	[39]
Greece	Kappa Research	2,040	11.6%	April 2007	[40]
Hungary	Azonnali	3,541	46%	May 2021	[41]
Iran	GAMAAN		14.6%	2018	[42]
Italy	Piepoli institute		15%	2018	[43]
Mexico	Parametría		7.6%	July 2014	[44]
Nepal	Interdisciplinary Analysts	3,000	49%	January 2008	[45]
Portugal	Catholic University of Portugal/Diário de Notícias	1,148	11%	March 2010	[46]
Romania	Institutul Român pentru Evaluare și Strategie	1,073	21%	March 2016	[47]
Russia	Russian Public Opinion Research Center	~1,800	28%[note 3]	March 2017	[48]
Serbia	SAS Intelligence	1,615	39.7%	April 2013	[49]
United States	YouGov	1,493	5%	April 2021	[50]

Several notable public figures who advocated for monarchy or are monarchists include:

• 
  Thomas Aquinas, Italian Catholic priest & theologian[51]
• 
  Dante Alighieri, Italian poet & philosopher[52]
• 
  Robert Bellarmine, Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church[53]
• 
  Robert Filmer, English political theorist[54]
• 
  Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher[55]
• 
  Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French Bishop of Meaux & theologian[56]
• 
  Pope Pius VI, Roman pontiff of the Catholic Church & ruler of the Papal States[57][58]
• 
  Joseph de Maistre, Savoyard philosopher & writer[59]
• 
  François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian & Ambassador to the Papal States[60]
• 
  Honoré de Balzac, French novelist & playwright[61]
• 
  Juan Donoso Cortés, Spanish politician and political theologian
• 
  Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher & theologian[62]
• 
  Otto von Bismarck, German Chancellor
• 
  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist & essayist
• 
  Miguel Miramón, Mexican President & military general
• 
  Charles Maurras, French author & philosopher[63]
• 
  Kang Youwei, Chinese political thinker & reformer
• 
  Ralph Adams Cram, American architect & writer[64]
• 
  Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 
  Pope Pius XII, Roman pontiff of the Catholic Church & sovereign of Vatican City[65][66]
• 
  Yukio Mishima, Japanese author
• 
  Vernon Bogdanor, British political scientist & historian[67]
• 
  Roger Scruton, English philosopher & writer[68]
• 
  Hans Hermann-Hoppe German-American political theorist[69]
• 
  Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, Romanian Prime Minister[70]
• 
  Salome Zourabichvili, Georgian President[71]
• 
  Stephen Fry, English actor & writer[72]
• 
  Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister[73][74]
• 
  Carla Zambelli, Brazilian politician[75]