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Modern monarchs and democracy: Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej and Juan Carlos of Spain
[journal article]
Abstract The history of democracy is typically a history of struggle against monarchs and other
such autocrats. The elevation of one person over others by virtue of blood and birth
has come to be seen as anachronistic; yet some monarchies have managed to survive
to this day. This paper a... view more
The history of democracy is typically a history of struggle against monarchs and other
such autocrats. The elevation of one person over others by virtue of blood and birth
has come to be seen as anachronistic; yet some monarchies have managed to survive
to this day. This paper analyses two examples of the uneasy coalition between popular
sovereignty and royal leadership that is constitutional monarchy. Whereas Juan Carlos
of Spain has been described as having steered Spain away from dictatorship, Bhumibol
of Thailand has come under scrutiny for allegedly lacking a principled approach to
democracy. I argue that structural as much as personal factors influenced the ways
in which the two monarchies were legitimised – one by positively responding to the
modern aspirations of the king’s subjects, giving him a “forward legitimacy,” the
other by revitalising the king’s traditional charisma and opting for “backward legitimacy.”... view less
Keywords
democratization; domination; legitimation; democracy; political power; political system; historical development; Thailand; monarchy; Southeast Asia; Spain
Classification
Political System, Constitution, Government
Method
descriptive study
Free Keywords
1900-2010
Document language
English
Publication Year
2012
Page/Pages
p. 5-34
Journal
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 31 (2012) 2
ISSN
1868-4882
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works