Editing Constitutional monarchy (section)

{{Short description|Form of government}}
{{redirect|Ceremonial monarchy|other uses|crowned republic}}
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'''Constitutional monarchy''', also known as '''limited monarchy''', '''parliamentary monarchy''' or '''democratic monarchy''', is a form of [[monarchy]] in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions.{{sfn|Blum|Cameron|Barnes|1970|pp=2Nnk67–268}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tridimas |first1=George |title=Constitutional monarchy as power sharing |journal=[[Constitutional Political Economy]] |date=2021 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=431–461 |doi=10.1007/s10602-021-09336-8 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stepan |first1=Alfred |last2=Linz |first2=Juan J. |last3=Minoves |first3=Juli F. |date=2014 |title=Democratic Parliamentary Monarchies |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/journal_of_democracy/v025/25.2.stepan.html |journal=Journal of Democracy |language=en |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=35–36 |doi=10.1353/jod.2014.0032 |issn=1086-3214 |s2cid=154555066|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Constitutional monarchies differ from [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarchies]] (in which a monarch is the only decision-maker) in that they are bound to exercise powers and authorities within limits prescribed by an established legal framework. A constitutional monarch in a parliamentary [[democracy]] is a hereditary symbolic head of state (who may be an emperor, king or queen, prince or grand duke) who mainly performs representative and civic roles but does not exercise executive or policy-making power.<ref name="e278">{{cite web|first=Elliot |last=Bulmer | title=Constitutional Monarchs in Parliamentary Democracies |publisher =International IDEA| url=https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/constitutional-monarchs-in-parliamentary-democracies-primer.pdf | access-date=27 December 2024}}</ref> 

Constitutional monarchies range from countries such as [[Liechtenstein]], [[Monaco]], [[Morocco]], [[Jordan]], [[Kuwait]], [[Bahrain]] and [[Bhutan]], where the constitution grants substantial discretionary powers to the sovereign, to countries such as the [[United Kingdom]] and other [[Commonwealth realm]]s, the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]], [[Spain]], [[Belgium]], [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[Sweden]], [[Lesotho]], [[Malaysia]], [[Thailand]], [[Cambodia]], and [[Japan]], where the monarch retains significantly less, if any, personal discretion in the exercise of their authority. On the surface level, this distinction may be hard to establish, with numerous liberal democracies restraining monarchic power in practice rather than written law, e.g., the [[constitution of the United Kingdom]], which affords the monarch substantial, if limited, legislative and executive powers.

''Constitutional monarchy'' may refer to a system in which the monarch acts as a non-party political ceremonial [[head of state]] under the [[constitution]], whether codified or [[Uncodified constitution|uncodified]].{{sfn|Kurian|2011|p={{page needed|date=December 2015}}}} While most monarchs may hold formal authority and the government may legally operate in the monarch's name, in the form typical in Europe the monarch no longer personally sets [[public policy]] or chooses political leaders. Political scientist [[Vernon Bogdanor]], paraphrasing [[Thomas Macaulay]], has defined a constitutional monarch as "A sovereign who reigns but does not rule".{{sfn|Bogdanor|1996|pp=407–422}}

In addition to acting as a visible symbol of [[national unity]], a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as [[dissolving parliament]] or giving [[royal assent]] to legislation. However, such powers generally may only be exercised strictly in accordance with either written constitutional principles or unwritten constitutional conventions, rather than any personal political preferences of the sovereign. 

In ''[[The English Constitution]]'', British political theorist [[Walter Bagehot]] identified three main political rights which a constitutional monarch may freely exercise: the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence, however, such as through certain [[reserve power]]s, and may also play an important political role.

The Commonwealth realms share the same person as [[hereditary monarchy]] under the [[Westminster system]] of constitutional governance. Two constitutional monarchies&nbsp;– [[Monarchy of Malaysia|Malaysia]] and [[Monarchy of Cambodia|Cambodia]]&nbsp;– are [[elective monarchies]], in which the ruler is periodically selected by a small [[electoral college]].

Some use the concept of '''semi-constitutional monarch''' to identify constitutional monarchies where the monarch retains substantial powers, on a par with a [[President (government title)|president]] in a [[Presidential system|presidential]] or [[semi-presidential system]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ecpr.eu/Events/PaperDetails.aspx?PaperID=30190&EventID=95 |title=Semi presidential systems and semi constitutional monarchies: A historical assessment of executive power-sharing |last1=Anckar |first1=Carsten |last2=Akademi |first2=Åbo |year=2016 |publisher=European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-date=14 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214014519/https://ecpr.eu/Events/PaperDetails.aspx?PaperID=30190&EventID=95 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Strongly limited constitutional monarchies, such as those of the [[monarchy of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] and [[monarchy of Australia|Australia]], have been referred to as [[crowned republic]]s by writers [[H. G. Wells]] and Glenn Patmore.<ref>{{cite web |title = 64. The British Empire in 1914. Wells, H.G. 1922. A Short History of the World |url = https://www.bartleby.com/86/64.html |access-date = 27 April 2021 |website = bartleby.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Patmore |first = Glenn |url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/635291529 |title = Choosing the Republic |year=  2009 |publisher = UNSW Press |isbn = 978-1-74223-200-3 |location = Sydney, NSW |page = 105 |oclc = 635291529 }}</ref>