Monarchy VS.

Republic
Some of the worlds countries are ruled by monarchs (kings) called monarchies or kingdoms. In Europe some of the oldest monarchies are England, Spain, Norway,Netherlands and even Romania was a monarchy until Decembre 1947, when it became republic. He/She(the monarch) is given a distinguished status and usually has control of the government via hereditary or other means where the people have no say in the selection process and they have to accept the leader any way. Modern monarchy has changed a bit from the conventional ones. The Monarch typically has only ceremonial functions, although Reserve Powers may be allowed. He/She also has advisors now who analyze the situation these days and find possible solution to different issues and play active roles in the external policy(foreign). Many constitutional monarchies actually utilize a parliamentary system of government. Many such countries in fact have a prime minister who holds most of the country's political power. Currently, 44 nations in the world have monarchs as heads of state, 16 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The historical form of absolute monarchy is retained only in Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and Vatican City.

Absolute monarchy Semi-constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy Commonwealth realms (consitutional monarchies in personal union)

Subnational monarchies (traditional)

The order of succession is usually affected by rules on gender. Historically, that is inheritance according to seniority of birth among the sons of a monarch or head of family, with sons and their male issue inheriting before brothers and their issue, and male-line males inheriting before females of the male line. Sometimes religion is affected; under the Act of Settlement 1701 all Roman Catholics and all persons who have married Roman Catholics are ineligible to be the British monarch and are skipped in the order of succession. There are also some countries ruled by a president and called Republics. The first republic to adopt the title president was the United States of America. Republicanism is the political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. The American Revolution began as a rejection only of the authority of British parliament over the colonies, not of the monarchy. With the Declaration of Independence the leaders of the revolt firmly rejected the monarchy and embraced republicanism. Republicanism" is derived from the term "republic", but the two words have different meanings, and people sometimes confuse them. "Republic" is a form of government and "republicanism" is a political ideology. The republic form of government is the type where the leader is not exactly like a monarch and is selected by the people. This selection is done by a process called election. A fair and free process of election takes place usually keeping every vote private and at the end, the votes are counted as to announce the person with more followers or supporters, the one with more supporters from amongst a list of few people turns to be the head of the state. head the The of state

makes the final decision but unlike monarchy, the people are consulted before the final decisions on a specific subject are made. The republican form of government came into existence in the 18th century and replaced monarchy in many countries since then. Today the term republic still most commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the people rather than from another basis, such as heredity or divine right. This remains the primary definition of republic in most contexts.