MONARCHY

A form of state in which sovereign authority is vested in a single person, whether he be called prince, king, or emperor. Monarchy is absolute when there is no limitation on the monarch's power, limited when there is such restraint.

Classical views. Theoretically, the ideal form of government has been held to be the centralization of all political power in the one best man. In ancient times Homer and the Pythagoreans advocated a monarchical form of theocracy. plato (427–347 b.c.) termed the rule of philosopher-kings either monarchy or aristocracy, since "we count royal and aristocratic as one" (Republic 587d). Among the three types of good government (monarchy, aristocracy, and polity) distinguished by aristotle (384–322 b.c.), monarchy was held to be the ideal. The deep sympathy for monarchy so often expressed in the Politics is to be understood in the light of Aristotle's relations with the rising Macedonian monarchy. He also maintained that the form of government that is best for any people is that best adapted to obtain for them the end of civil power. Although regarding monarchy as the ideal, he thought the best attainable form to be an aristocracy, not of wealth or of birth, but of intellect—a true aristocracy, a government of the best (Politics 1293b). According to cicero (106–43 b.c.), men organized states to attain their common good. He preferred a form of government embracing the best features of the pure forms of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. He believed that the Roman government embodied this "mixed" form, which he thought superior to others because it was better balanced and more stable (De Re Publica, 1.65–).

Medieval theory. In the Middle Ages, the king was considered the lawful head of civil society. St. thomas aquinas (1225–75) taught that all government is derived from God since He alone from His very nature has dominion over men. Such dominion is not intrinsic or innate in any man, not even in a king; it is derived. The power to govern comes from God either immediately or mediately; it is not an inborn natural right of a few. St. Thomas explained that the will of the people counteracts tendencies to tyranny. Although he believed monarchy to be "most in accord with nature," he defined as acceptable any form that performs well the functions of the state. In De Regimine Principum he was emphatic on the moral limitations placed upon the royal power. Indeed, he even called for some restraint upon the king and approached Thomas Jefferson's later advocacy of revolution against tyranny. There was no basis in medieval political thought for such doctrines as the divine right of kings. Every expression by Aquinas and his predecessors pointed not to the divine right, but to the sacred responsibility of kings. The modern concept of the limitation of governmental power can be drawn easily from Thomistic principles.

Dante (1265–1321), in De Monarchia, cherished the ideal of a world state over which one sole civil ruler would preside, just as the pope was the supreme head of the Church. In fact as well as theory, however, medieval royal power was far from absolute. The king's authority was kept in check by the communes, the guilds, and the Church. These elements served to counteract royal absolutism, preventing it from trespassing on rights founded on natural law and confirmed by custom. Politics was considered inseparable from ethics and religion.

Beginning of modern political theory. Niccolò machiavelli (1469–1527) revived the pagan concept of royal absolutism. He was the first to identify the state with the prince and to divorce politics from Christian ethics. Thomas hobbes (1588–1670) thought the best state was one in which the power was concentrated in one absolute monarch possessing all rights and no duties. In general, the late 18th-century European monarchies had become enlightened despotisms. Since that time absolute monarchy has disappeared from the civilized world, and the limited type is in decline. However, natural-law ethics does not imply any particular form of government, although it opposes tyrannies of all types. In the words of Leo XIII, "There is no reason why the Church should not approve of the chief power being held by one man or more, provided only it be just, and that it tend to the common advantage" [ Diuturnum illud, in Acta Sanctae Sedis 14 (1881) 5].

Bibliography: j. l. brierly et al., Law and Government (London 1948). g. e. g. catlin, The Story of Political Philosophers (New York 1939). w. lippmann, Essays in the Public Philosophy (Boston, Mass. 1955). r. m. maciver, The Modern State (New York 1926). j. c. murray, We Hold These Truths (New York 1960).

[a. j. osgniach]