Absolute Monarchy vs Constitutional Monarchy

By: P. Rodrigues

Before we can talk about the differences between constitutional and absolute monarchy, what is a monarchy? These are political systems that have a king and/or a queen in power. In simple terms, a royal family.

The stark contrast between the aforementioned alternatives, is that the Constitutional Monarchy has a king, or queen, that rules “within laws which limit his or her power”; in other words, there is some sort of entity that controls a considerable part of the government, alongside the royal family. In most cases, there is a parliament. The parliament is a “legislative elected body of the government”. In simpler terms: people are elected to join the parliament, and then together they work to make new and better laws. It is important to state that the royal family has no more power than the parliament in this case.

It goes without saying that Absolute Monarchy most important difference is that every decision is ultimately up to the king, or queen. However, this does not mean that there is no parliament, or any other sort of supreme consultative body. In fact, I can’t recall any monarchy without some form of state council.

Advantages and disadvantages
Having a Constitutional Monarchy means there is some kind of better security, national focus and social, and political stability. It addresses more of the nation’s concerns as it is an elected entity. However, this also means that there is conflict when debating strategies to the country’s problems, making it an overall slow system; it is difficult to any major internal changes to happen, even though it is required.
Absolute Monarchy offers a faster lawmaking structure; having a single Ruler means that the law process straightforward, as there is just one party involved. In fact, it is safe to say that there is less corruption; less people with different agendas, means less people willing to use money to get things done. Nevertheless, I believe that the disadvantages are quite obvious: if there is an incompetent leader, there is an inevitable downfall to the country. Like the other example, it is extremely difficult to change the internal political structure. And, as a consequence of a stronger military, there is higher chances of both international and national conflicts, rebels, creating a chaotic environment; which is horrible to the nation’s economy and its people.

Things to consider
A king or queen, in an Absolute Monarchy, can decide to not interact with political affairs, allowing any council to take control of the nation’s political decisions.

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