Who wants to abolish their country's monarchy?

[lpetrich]

Royal families: The countries that most want to abolish the monarchy — Quartz
noting
Royal Wedding 2018: International perceptions of the Royal Family | Ipsos MORI
[table="class:grid"]
[tr]
[td]Nation[/td]
[td]Btr[/td]
[td]ND[/td]
[td]DK[/td]
[td]Wrs[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Spain[/td]
[td]37[/td]
[td]21[/td]
[td]19[/td]
[td]24[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Sweden[/td]
[td]23[/td]
[td]40[/td]
[td]28[/td]
[td]10[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Malaysia[/td]
[td]18[/td]
[td]29[/td]
[td]37[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Belgium[/td]
[td]17[/td]
[td]41[/td]
[td]17[/td]
[td]26[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Canada[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[td]54[/td]
[td]18[/td]
[td]14[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Australia[/td]
[td]15[/td]
[td]49[/td]
[td]17[/td]
[td]19[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]UK[/td]
[td]11[/td]
[td]38[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]46[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Japan[/td]
[td]4[/td]
[td]39[/td]
[td]22[/td]
[td]35[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Abolish? Btr = better, ND = no difference, DK = don't know, Wrs = worse
Source for the UK: Monarchy/Royal Family Trends - Better off or worse off if Monarchy were abolished? | Ipsos MORI (avg over 2000 - 2002)

Similarly, among the 17 countries that are republics, on average only 16% think having a constitutional monarchy instead of an elected head of state would be better for their future – 36% think it would be worse, and around half that it would make no difference (28%) or don’t know (20%). Opinions are more split in India, where 31% think replacing their elected head of state with a monarchy like Britain’s would be better, and 29% worse.

Another interesting curiosity: Queen Elizabeth II has a much higher favorability rating than her heir apparent, Prince Charles (42% vs. 24%), and a much lower unfavorability rating (12% vs. 25%).

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again. Prince Charles does not seem to realize how reckless he is. He could provoke the abolition of the British monarchy, and he ought to be aware that for over a century, a monarchy that becomes abolished stays abolished.

 Abolition of monarchy
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones before the 13th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 13th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 14th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 15th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 16th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 17th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 18th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 19th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 20th century
 List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 21st century
 Monarchies in Europe
 List of the last monarchs in Europe
 List of living former sovereign monarchs
 List of countries by date of transition to republican system of government
 List of current pretenders
 List of former sovereign states

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

I think if the monarchy were completely stripped from the Canadian constitution right now, it would just be replaced with an equivalent structure. I'm in favour of fully removing the monarchy from our constitution in principle, reforming how the duties handled by the Governor General (and Lieutenant Governors) are managed, and abolishing the senate. However, given the barriers to making such constitutional changes, it isn't worth the effort in practice and may never be.

 

[lpetrich]

I think if the monarchy were completely stripped from the Canadian constitution right now, it would just be replaced with an equivalent structure. I'm in favour of fully removing the monarchy from our constitution in principle, reforming how the duties handled by the Governor General (and Lieutenant Governors) are managed, and abolishing the senate. However, given the barriers to making such constitutional changes, it isn't worth the effort in practice and may never be.

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all have Governors General as local representatives of the British monarch. It would be a simple matter to make them locally chosen.

As to the Canadian Senate, I'm not familiar with that. Could you please explain? How much does it do? Is it like the US Senate and the House of Commons, an actual governing body? Or is it mainly a reward for financing politicians' careers?

 

[4321lynx]

I think if the monarchy were completely stripped from the Canadian constitution right now, it would just be replaced with an equivalent structure. I'm in favour of fully removing the monarchy from our constitution in principle, reforming how the duties handled by the Governor General (and Lieutenant Governors) are managed, and abolishing the senate. However, given the barriers to making such constitutional changes, it isn't worth the effort in practice and may never be.

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all have Governors General as local representatives of the British monarch. It would be a simple matter to make them locally chosen.

As to the Canadian Senate, I'm not familiar with that. Could you please explain? How much does it do? Is it like the US Senate and the House of Commons, an actual governing body? Or is it mainly a reward for financing politicians' careers?

The GG is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada:

The Queen, on the advice of her Canadian prime minister,[1] appoints a governor general to carry out most of her constitutional and ceremonial duties. The commission is for an unfixed period of time—known as serving at Her Majesty's pleasure—though five years is the normal convention

It is unlikely that a GG recommendation would ever be refused or changed as this would lead to a constitutional crisis. It is a ceremonial post. We hope to avoid having the likes of Trump as ceremonial Head of State no matter how crooked our governments and politicians may become.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General_of_Canada

,,

 

[bilby]

The big sticking point for Australian republicans is the powers of, and the way in which our head of state would be chosen if we ditched the queen of England as our head of state.

The easiest option would be to leave the structure of the government intact, and just choose a GG locally, as you say; But who picks the GG in such a scenario?

The republican supporting MPs think that the PM or the government should appoint a GG in such a case; But the voting public think it should be a directly elected position. As the only way it could happen would be for the government to propose a model, and to have the public ratify the constitutional changes via a referendum, it can't actually happen until and unless the government and the voters both agree on a model.

And the status quo isn't so bad as to demand change. The only time it might have been was the Whitlam dismissal in 1974, but that's ancient history to most Aussies today.

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

As to the Canadian Senate, I'm not familiar with that. Could you please explain? How much does it do? Is it like the US Senate and the House of Commons, an actual governing body? Or is it mainly a reward for financing politicians' careers?

Canadian Parliament is bicameral, a variant of the Westminster system. The senate is closer to the House of Lords in the UK. Senators are appointed by the Governor General, almost always on the advice of the Prime Minister (not sure if there are any living exceptions). It's all a bizarre circle jerk, especially seeing as how we have been alternating Liberal and Conservative governments throughout most of my life, both of them largely appointing Liberal or Conservative aligned senators (though Trudeau removed the sitting Liberal senators from the Liberal caucus and made some changes how his Liberal government vets and recommends potential new senators).

They can propose certain types of bills, and their approval is required on bills from the lower house. The senate, at times, is still referred to as the house of sober second thought, but I find that pretty situationally valid.

 

[Metaphor]

Monarchies ought visit cellars in Yekaterinburg more often.

Australia's head of State, the Queen of Australia, is also the Queen of other countries. Apparently this split loyalty doesn't pose any real threats, because the Queen does nothing for Australia anyway.

Although I believe bilby is right that the people of Australia want an elected head of state over an appointed one, I've never quite been able to grasp why the head of state is a different role to the head of government, let alone a different person. Far more people could tell you who our Prime Minister is than could tell you who our Governor-General is. I'll freely confess--I can't remember the name of Australia's current governor-general.

 

[Patooka]

I had to look it up, I thought it was still Peter Cosgrove. The reason why people think I'm a monarchist is because I have the opinion that no one has offered an alternative that is measurably better than the system Australia already has.

 

[skepticalbip]

Monarchies ought visit cellars in Yekaterinburg more often.

Australia's head of State, the Queen of Australia, is also the Queen of other countries. Apparently this split loyalty doesn't pose any real threats, because the Queen does nothing for Australia anyway.

Although I believe bilby is right that the people of Australia want an elected head of state over an appointed one, I've never quite been able to grasp why the head of state is a different role to the head of government, let alone a different person. Far more people could tell you who our Prime Minister is than could tell you who our Governor-General is. I'll freely confess--I can't remember the name of Australia's current governor-general.

Someone is needed to cut the ribbon to open that new supermarket and the Prime Minister should rightly be busy with other matters.

 

[Tigers!]

I had to look it up, I thought it was still Peter Cosgrove. The reason why people think I'm a monarchist is because I have the opinion that no one has offered an alternative that is measurably better than the system Australia already has.

If its not baroque then don't fix it.

 

[Metaphor]

Monarchies ought visit cellars in Yekaterinburg more often.

Australia's head of State, the Queen of Australia, is also the Queen of other countries. Apparently this split loyalty doesn't pose any real threats, because the Queen does nothing for Australia anyway.

Although I believe bilby is right that the people of Australia want an elected head of state over an appointed one, I've never quite been able to grasp why the head of state is a different role to the head of government, let alone a different person. Far more people could tell you who our Prime Minister is than could tell you who our Governor-General is. I'll freely confess--I can't remember the name of Australia's current governor-general.

Someone is needed to cut the ribbon to open that new supermarket and the Prime Minister should rightly be busy with other matters.

In that case, I cannot understand why popular election of a head of state seems to fill people with anxiety.

krypton iodine sulfur appears to be scared that somebody like Trump might be elected to a Canadian head of state if a popular vote were allowed. It seems to me a great many people would prefer Trump was cutting ribbons than running the country.

I've been hoping that Megxit might inflict irreparable damage on the British royals, but the British people seem as satisfied as ever with their lot. Well, the British people deserve their monarchy. They deserve it good and hard.

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

krypton iodine sulfur appears to be scared that somebody like Trump might be elected to a Canadian head of state if a popular vote were allowed. It seems to me a great many people would prefer Trump was cutting ribbons than running the country.

I think you mean 4321lynx.

I suppose a Trump (or perhaps Ford) figure as GG would be an interesting scenario, at the very least in getting some definitive rulings on how much power the GG has to, let's say, veto legislation.

 

[Bomb#20]

I had to look it up, I thought it was still Peter Cosgrove. The reason why people think I'm a monarchist is because I have the opinion that no one has offered an alternative that is measurably better than the system Australia already has.

If its not baroque then don't fix it.

But monarchy is Baroque. Music didn't get really good until musicians stopped composing to secure salaries as court composers and started composing to get the public to fill concert halls.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The Who has a monarchy?