THE ROYAL DIVIDEND IN CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Abstract

While the monarchical system of governance is often regarded by many political scientists and laypeople alike as a political arrangement that has outlived its usefulness and even as an aberration, the current features of the international system of states, especially when it comes to the emerging world order, which has been shaped, at least in part as a result of the foreign policy gambits of the second Trump administration, enables some states that retain their monarchies, even if their rulers function as essentially symbolic figureheads, to derive a number of somewhat unexpected advantages from it. The paper draws on a qualitative methodology, which is based on the synthesis and analysis of carefully chosen primary and secondary sources that fall within the scope of academic disciplines such as international relations, political science, sociology, and nationalism studies. Following a review of the literature, in which it looks at some of the historical factors explaining the durability of monarchies and the current status quo with regard to the place occupied within the international system by modern countries with monarchs as heads of state, it advances a two-fold argument. Firstly, it contends that monarchies, specifically constitutional monarchies, can mesh well with and bolster the liberal nationalism that is seeing a resurgence in the Western world, with the hereditary rulers of such states generally rather well-equipped to deliver messages of unity in times of crisis. Furthermore, in situations characterized by a high degree of political uncertainty, especially due to the actions of world powers, the institution of the monarchy can constitute an important safety valve, providing something akin to a psychological shield for regular citizens who feel vulnerable. Secondly, it argues that current monarchs, albeit often having relinquished actual political power, may nonetheless be rather well-positioned to navigate the often murky waters associated with Trump’s style of foreign policy-making. In particular, it examines how the institution of the British monarchy that exhibits features, which appear to transcend the regular modus operandi of politics, has demonstrated somewhat of a deterrence effect when it comes to certain ambitious plans that are associated with the American expansionism under the Trump administration, which are of questionable legality from the standpoint of the law of nations. In essence, constitutional monarchies seem to be surprisingly versatile in terms of managing to remain in the good graces of both liberal and conservative political forces, demonstrating a remarkable adaptability to the pressures emanating from the new world order in which it appears increasingly difficult to speak of the continued existence of a united Western bloc.