Monarchy System Research Articles

Bhutan's security scenario

This paper examines the limitations and prospects of the security of Bhutan, a landlocked buffer state between India and China, and a country that is geographically very small and poor in economic development. Normally, a country would like to have various options to provide national security, and diplomacy to protect its sovereign status and national boundaries. However, Bhutan is largely isolated from the outside world, suffers from poor internal communications, and continues with the monarchy system with very limited options to formulate its own security and foreign policy. While the country's military remains weak (mainly due to lack of funds), Bhutan's diplomacy, economic development and cultural status have proved very useful. For all its limitations, Bhutan has succeeded in maintaining its sovereign status and relative autonomy of action.

Die parlamentarische Vertretung von ethnischen Minderheiten und das österreichische Verfassungsrecht

SUMMARY The representation of ethnic minorities has remained an issue in the parliament of the Austrian Republic at the end of the twentieth century, just as it had been in that half of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy a century earlier. However, in modern Austria theoretical discussions of the problem have not yet led to any attempt at a practical solution. Whereas the Dual Monarchy's system was based on the majority principle, so that the size of constituencies could be ‘gerrymandered’ to secure more seats for ethnic minorities, the republics since 1918 have been committed to proportional representation. The much smaller ethnic minorities in the twentieth century gave rise to little interest in their representation until after 1955, when the state undertook new obligations under international law, albeit in rather general terms committing it to ‘equal elections’ and ‘the rights of minorities’. The federal constitutional court had to consider these matters once the Slovenian minority in Carinthia brought a case in 1979 complaining of their non-representation in the provincial parliament. The court would not accept the argument that formal equality of votes did not lead to equality of representation. None of the subsequent proposals to alter the legal or constitutional framework so as to meet the demands of minorities in Carinthia or elsewhere in the Republic overcame the problems of misuse by those for whom the measures were not intended or the changing nature of minority groupings. Heinz Tichy concludes his review by arguing that present Austrian constitutional law guarantees equal rights for individuals, not collective groups, and merely allows for, but does not require, modifications to the electoral laws to secure representation for ethnic minorities. He warns that a special parliamentary mandate for relatively small national minorities might create more problems than it solved, and suggests instead following the Danish model of using lobbyists to represent minority interests.

Кормя двуглавого орла… Русская литература и государственная идеология в последней трети XVIII – пер-вой трети XIX века по Андрей Зорин (review)

Кормя двуглавого орла… Русская литература и государственная идеология в последней трети XVIII – пер-вой трети XIX века по Андрей Зорин (review)

NEPAL: CHANGING POLITICAL ECONOMY

Nepal's political economy has been in the process of changing ever since the establishment of a unified kingdom on November 12, 1769, following the unification drive by the King of Garkha, Prithivi Narayan Shah. Although Nepal has never been colonized, her political economy has been largely influenced by changes in neighboring countries. Monarchs ruled the country from 1770 to 1845. At that point, Jung Bahadur Rana, taking full advantage of the ongoing conspiratorial politics in the king's palaces, decimated his foes and established himself as the Prime Minister of the country and turned the powerful king into titular head of state from 1846 to 1950. After a brief experiment of open and competitive politics following the 1950 revolution, the country fell back into a rule of absolutism from 1960 to 1990, then finally reverted to a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system in 1990 following the Jana Andolan (People's Movement).

Philippe d'Orleans, Frere Unique du Roi: Founder of the Family Fortune

Philippe d'Orleans was the son of Louis XIII, the only brother of Louis XIV, the father of the Regent, Philippe II, and the first of the fourth House of Orleans, which endures to the present day. Because the senior, or Bourbon, line died out in the nineteenth century, the present head of the House of Orleans, the comte de Paris, would be king, if France had adhered to the system of hereditary monarchy. Philippe was thus the biological founder of the collateral line that long remained close to the throne and often in opposition to it. In subsequent generations the House of Orleans attracted to it men and ideas that transcended the narrow question of the succession and flowed over into areas of political ideology, economics, and social progress. The role of Orleanism was to propose to, or on occasion to impose on, the French people a more liberal, a more modern alternative. Despite the historical importance of the House, Philippe, or Monsieur, as he was known in court, has been viewed as an insignificant prince. Contemporary memoirs and letters have described him as a fop and homosexual whose ornaments and affectations made him the laughingstock of the court. Always he walked in the shadow of his great brother, and rarely did he seem to engage in any more important activity than the decoration of his palaces or the patronage of his favorites. He was a pot-bellied little man propped up on heels like stilts; gotten up like a woman with rings, bracelets, and jewels everywhere; a long wig, black and powdered, spread out in front; ribbons wherever he could put them; and exuding perfumes of all kinds, . wrote Saint-Simon, the most famous of the memoirists of the time of Philippe. With more vivacity than intelli-

Symbolic Communication in Malaysian Politics - The Case of the Sultanate

AbstractThis paper deals with the Sultanate in Malaysia. It provides an overview of the present position of the institution in the country, some description of the constitutional monarchy system and how it functions, a brief account of the history and origins of the Sultanate, and a discussion of the roles, functions, and importance of the institution.

The 32nd Discourse on Davila

IN my book John Adams and Prophets of Progress, I called attention to fact that last, or 32nd, installment of Discourses on Davila, which appeared in April 27, I79I, issue of Gazette of United was not included in edition of i805 which reprinted this series of papers. Neither did Charles Francis Adams include it in his collected edition of Adams's works. On margin of page 82 of his copy of Discourses on Davila, Adams noted that the Rage and Fury of Jacobinical Journals vs these discourses increased as they proceeded, intimidated Printer John Fenno, and convinced me that to proceed would do more hurt than good. I therefore broke off abruptly. As I remarked in my volume, it was perhaps last installment which given greatest offense; and passage which made it seem inadvisable to reprint it even in i8o5 was Adams's attempt to explain why nations of world adopted system of hereditary monarchy. Mankind . . , he wrote, had tried all possible experiments in elections of Governors and Senates. But . they almost unanimously been convinced that hereditary succession was attended with fewer evils than frequent elections. The Editor of this magazine has suggested that, as the information on this essay leaves reader hungry to see whole, which means going back to Gazette of United States, it would be worthwhile to put it in print where it would be easily accessible. I welcome suggestion, and gladly supply copy. The installment is brief; it is reprinted here with original spelling and punctuation: