This is another report in our section comparing constitutional monarchies or crowned republics with politicians' republics.
There is no doubt that constitutional monarchy, or crowned republic, is an excellent form of government. It is the one model which has been exported more successfully than any other in the history of the world.
What do I mean by “successfully”? I mean that the model has functioned for an extended period of stable democratic government.
This can be in non-Western countries where the Judaeo-Christian ethic is not dominant. For example, Egypt and Jordan functioned as more democratic countries when they were constitutional monarchies than when they have been republics.
Constitutional monarchies or crowned republics make up about only 15% of the states of the world. However this form of government is represented disproportionately among the leading countries of the world. This has been demonstrated in a series of different assessments which we have reported on this site.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has just released its latest assessment of democracy across the world “Democracy Index 2011: Democracy under stress”.
Of the top 10 countries, an extraordinary seven are constitutional monarchies. Proportionately there should have been no more than 2.
….top countries…
The first ten are: Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Finland, and the Netherlands.
Of the first 20, nine are constitutional monarchies. Proportionately there should have been no more than 3.
The places from 11 to 20 are: Luxembourg, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Malta, Czech Republic, Uruguay, United Kingdom, United States and Costa Rica.
Of the first 30, 12 are constitutional monarchies. Proportionately there should have been no more than 5.
The places from 21 to 30 are: Japan, South Korea, Belgium, Mauritius, Spain, Cape Verde, Portugal, South Africa, France and Slovenia.
The overall mark which each country is awarded is made up from five categories:
I Electoral process and pluralism,
II Functioning, of government,
III Political participation,
IV Political culture and
V Civil Liberties.