What_is_the_role_of_the_monarchy_in_modern_Britain文献.doc

What is the role of the monarchy in modern Britain? Can it be justified empirically and theoretically? Research Skills & Methods in Political Science Ben Aston05.06.03What is the role of the monarchy in modern Britain? Can it be justified empirically and theoretically? This essay will first examine the role of the monarchy, taking modern Britain as a focus for examination and seek to answer whether or not it can be justified empirically and theoretically. A Most Similar Systems Design will be used to compare the Dutch and Spanish monarchies with the British monarchy whilst a Most Dissimilar System Design will be used to examine the French Presidential Republican system. This will be done to ascertain whether or not the British monarchy can be justified empirically. For the purposes of this essay it is necessary to establish what will be understood by the key terms in the question. Role will be understood to be the role of the monarchy both constitutionally and non-constitutionally. The rationale for this is the Queen plays an important non-constitutional as well as constitutional role which could justify her position. Defining what the ‘modern monarchy’ is and when it came into existence is a debate in itself. However, for the purposes of this essay it will be understood to mean the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne in 1953, because as Tony Blair described during the Jubilee Celebrations, the Queen “adapted the monarchy successfully to the modern world.” The word ‘monarchy’ is in itself a contestable term. Dearlove suggests that it is the ‘raft of people who are paid out of the civil list’ and for the purposes of this essay, that understanding will be adopted. For the second part of the question, ‘justified empirically’ will be understood to mean comparable to other presidential and monarchical systems, in terms of achieving the same role at the same cost of similar or alternative systems. ‘Justified theoretically’ will be understood to mean compa