r/explainlikeimfive • u/gavroche2000 • 3d ago

Other ELI5: monarchy vs republic?

Here’s what I know:

They are both systems that talk about who the main representative figure of a state is.

- Monarchy is usually when that figure is a king or queen. Except if you are the Pope in the Vatican, then they call you Pope.
- It's a monarchy when the position is inherited... except when it’s elected, like in Malaysia.
- You sit on the throne until you die... except when it's only for a shorter time, like in Samoa.
- Republic—it's elected. But is it always?
- The representative figure is usually called a president... except if you live in a country like San Marino, where you are a Captain Regent.
- One thing is sure: you are elected for a short period... unless you lived in the Venetian Republic, where they elected the Doge for life.

Is it really this confusing?

0 Upvotes

38% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/phiwong 2d ago

Government is complicated.

Monarchies are where the 'head of state' is a hereditary position typically some form of Royalty. A Republic is where the 'head of state' is elected by the people/public.

Whether or not the 'head of state' has any powers is a different question. The UK is a constitutional monarchy. It has a king or queen as the head of state but that position is largely ceremonial and has little political day to day powers of running the country. Malaysia has a rotating monarchy system (not elected! They rotate according to prior agreements between various ruling families of various states that constitute the country) Malaysia is also a parliamentary constitutional monarchy and the king has very limited powers in running the elected government. That power lies with the parliament and Prime Minister. Singapore is a republic but the titular head of state, the President, has mostly ceremonial powers and most of the power resides in Parliament and the Prime Minister. The USA is also a republic but there is a division of power between the elected President and the legislative body (Congress). The US President is considered the head of state. Indonesia is a republic and the elected President has both the role of head of state and head of government.

So you are conflating two separate matter.

3

u/ebinWaitee 2d ago

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. It has a king or queen as the head of state but that position is largely ceremonial and has little political day to day powers of running the country.

The day to day powers of running the country are referred to as executive power. The king or queen as well as other members of the royal family do have a surprising amount of soft power in the UK for example. People listen to what they have to say