Monarchies urged, heed global change

Monarchies urged, heed global change - Bangkok Post
Achara Ashayagachat, March 9, 2012

The remaining monarchies around the world should be careful in they way they perform their roles as long-term global trends point to their growing irrelevance, a prominent US scholar advised in a lecture delivered to a conference at a Chulalongkorn University on Friday morning.

Benedict Anderson, Professor Emeritus of International Studies, Government and Asian Studies at Cornell University, said that in the year 1900 most nation states were headed by monarchs, but by the year 2000 only 13-14 per cent of UN members were under monarchal rule.

All the remaining monarchs should therefore be careful and ensure their roles remain relevant.

Prof Anderson was speaking at a conference on "Democracy and Crisis in Thailand" organised by Chulalongkorn University's Thailand Democracy Watch and McGill University.

The professor said in the post World War II-era several monarchies were propped up by or protectorates of London. The British monarchy had survived uniquely.

The British were unlike others as they were not ruled by their own, but by Dutch, French and Spanish royal families, among others, so the British monarchy was quite flexible, said Prof Anderson.

His pointed to the United Kingdom's unique external policy over two centuries of encouraging, controlling, spreading and creating protected minor monarchies around the world -- although it was by no means always successful.

It was much easier for the British to rule through an obedient local monarchy, he said. That was how in post-liberation monarchies in countries like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, among others, the British continued to decide  economic and security issues like oil and gas policies.

But for peoples who were accustomed to being ruled by dynasties there was an outcry. History shows that once these old dynasties were overthrown no new dynasties could be established, despite the efforts of some leaders in the post-colonialism-era, such as in China, he said.

Overall, the monarchs were loved, but once countries had become independent they were not well-recognised at all, the history professor said.

During the Cold War and decolonisation period, and through the formation of the United Nations, national territorial boundaries had become more stable and these circumstances helped to define the fate of the monarchies, he added.

Professor Yoshifumi Tamada, of Kyoto University, said the future of Thai democracy depends on how the Yingkuck administration ends.

Political scientist Siripan said it was not true that Thais in rural areas were ignorant and could be easily bought when exercising their voting rights, as widely claimed. Rural people applied their own reasoning when deciding which way to vote, he said.

Chulalongkorn University security analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said the Thai polity dictated by the monarchy was entering the phase of "a long goodbye and extended end".