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In the increasingly questioning world of the 1990s, the role of the monarchy in a democracy is again coming under scrutiny. Its critics argue that the monarchy is a profoundly conservative institution which serves to inhibit social change; that it has outlived its usefulness; that it symbolizes and reinforces deference and hierachy; and that its radical reform is therefore long overdue. Rejecting these arguments Vernon Bogdanor makes a powerful case for the positive role that monarchy plays in modern democratic politics. Ranging across law, politics, and history he argues that far from undermining democracy, the monarchy sustains and strengthens democratic institutions; that constitutional monarchy is a form of government that ensures not conservatism but legitimacy. The first serious examination of the political role of the monarchy to appear in many years, this book will make fascinating reading for all those interested in the monarchy and the future of British politics.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. vii)
• Acknowledgements(p. ix)
• The Evolution of Constitutional Monarchy(p. 1)
• 2 The Basic Constitutional Rules: The Rules of Succession(p. 42)
• 3 The Basic Constitutional Rules: Influence and the Prerogative(p. 61)
• 4 The Appointment of a Prime Minister(p. 84)
• 5 Three Constitutional Crises(p. 113)
• 6 Hung Parliaments and Proportional Representation(p. 145)
• The Financing of the Monarchy(p. 183)
• 8 The Sovereign's Private Secretary(p. 197)
• 9 The Sovereign and the Church(p. 215)
• 10 The Sovereign and the Commonwealth(p. 240)
• 11 The Future of Constitutional Monarchy(p. 298)
• Appendix 1 Sovereigns Since Henry VIII(p. 310)
• Appendix 2 Prime Ministers Since 1782(p. 311)
• Appendix 3 Private Secretaries Since 1870(p. 313)
• Appendix 4 Member States of the Commonwealth, 1995(p. 314)
• Appendix 5 Some Constitutional Episodes Involving the Use of Royal Power Since 1900(p. 316)
• Select Bibliography(p. 318)
• Index(p. 323)

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CHOICE Review

The British monarch is a constitutional monarch, although the British constitution is unwritten. This does not mean that expectations concerning the behavior of the sovereign are completely governed by wishful thinking. Rather, as Bogdanor's thorough account shows, there is a good bit of hidden wiring (in Peter Hennessey's excellent phrase) that renders the politics of such matters as succession to the throne and the appointment of prime ministers far from random. The role of the monarch in the modern British state, Bogdanor argues, is by no means obsolete, but rather confers legitimacy on government and offers stability amid change. Thus, he argues, the monarchy aids reforming governments as much as conservative ones. This book presupposes a fair grasp of recent British history and, since the monarchy reaches into the Commonwealth, the history of much of the rest of the world (especially the pink spots on the pre-WW II map) as well. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. N. W. Polsby University of California, Berkeley

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

A regular contributor to the national press and television, Vernon Bogdanor is Reader in Government, and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.