Strange how some relatively progressive democracies persist with the most backward form of government that exists. Literally “anti-democratic” - just nuts if you ask me…
To be fair, France was no longer a monarchy when they did most of their exploitation in Africa, while the monarchies of Morocco and Ethiopia were among the African countries doing reasonably well and retaining their independence at least for some time during colonial rule in Africa.
But maybe it has not so much to do with the official form of government but with there being institutions like a strong parliament, free press, rule of law and so on - ultimately, it probably depends on how much actual power the rulers have and how much they can abuse that power, whether they call themselves kings, emperors, presidents or supreme leaders.
As an anecdote, when the monarchy was abolished and the office of president established in Weimar Germany, the new president was jokingly called Ersatzkaiser ("substitute emperor") because his role was not very different from that of a monarch in a parliamentary monarchy (and still isn't to this day).
I'm always a bit sceptical of these lists but the World Justice Project's "open government index" has monarchies occupying 8 of the top 10 places; it's the reverse in the bottom 10 (just Iran and Cambodia alongside eight republics). To be fair there are some odd omissions including Switzerland and Iceland.
For my money, the only thing that matters in evaluating government is the governance itself, and there just doesn't seem to be any good evidence that republics are inherently more "advanced" in that sense. The rest is just irrelevant theorising.
On November 11, 2024, I made a very similar quiz named Countries with Monarchies. I'd almost argue that it doesn't make sense how this quiz gets featured when I made an almost identical quiz 2 months before. @quizmaster
That's frustrating. I have no insight into QM's process or criteria, but I can imagine there are some hidden factors that contribute to this sort of thing. They may have to do with subtleties of quiz design or certain users who are known creators. I notice this is Rob's first feature (Congrats, Rob!), but he also contributes quite a bit to the daily trivia.
The reason Portugal is a Republic and Spain is a Constitutional Monarchy is because in 1910, Portugal overthrew King Manuel II who escaped to England. Portugal never became a Monarchy again.
Spain became The Second Spanish Republic after King Alfonso III was deposed in 1931. Francisco Franco defeated the Republic in 1939 and became Dictator. He reinstated the Monarchy and named Juan Carlos I, the grandson of Alfonso III, as the next King before his death in 1975. Juan Carlos I worked to peacefully transition Spain to a Constitutional Monarchy and approved a New Constitution in 1978. Carlos stayed King until 2014.
At the time of writing, the most common wrong answer which ended people's quizzes was San Marino, the world's oldest extant republic! I bet they'd be unhappy to hear what JetPunkers seem to think about them.
Ditto communism - in practice it is an authoritarian communist state but officially the ruling party has removed all references to communism in the country's constitution.
This is clearly for those that are currently monarchies. I see that people will fail if they think about France more as historically speaking, one of the 3 European monarchies back a couple hundred years ago, before the late 1700's. That or Egypt as in Ancient Egypt with their pharaohs being their monarchs. Now both are more like republics but at some point in history, they were monarchies
yes, what about Brunei?
Brunei is absolutely a monarchy. Brunei is an absolute monarchy.
10 of the first 20 countries are nominally monarchies.
Zero of the last 20 countries are nominally monarchies.
The monarchy seems to be quite a successful form government. If it is "backward", seems to be not very important to me.
10 of the first 20 countries are nominally not monarchies.
Zero of the last 20 countries are from outside of Africa.
The monarchy seems to be quite a successful form of government - for monarchies! Especially monarchies which exploited African countries…
But maybe it has not so much to do with the official form of government but with there being institutions like a strong parliament, free press, rule of law and so on - ultimately, it probably depends on how much actual power the rulers have and how much they can abuse that power, whether they call themselves kings, emperors, presidents or supreme leaders.
As an anecdote, when the monarchy was abolished and the office of president established in Weimar Germany, the new president was jokingly called Ersatzkaiser ("substitute emperor") because his role was not very different from that of a monarch in a parliamentary monarchy (and still isn't to this day).
For my money, the only thing that matters in evaluating government is the governance itself, and there just doesn't seem to be any good evidence that republics are inherently more "advanced" in that sense. The rest is just irrelevant theorising.
I think it must have been one of the first modern republics. Perhaps you are both just too well-informed!
they are the same person bro 💀
I just checked out some of jbro's quizzes, they're really good - give them a go!
The reason Portugal is a Republic and Spain is a Constitutional Monarchy is because in 1910, Portugal overthrew King Manuel II who escaped to England. Portugal never became a Monarchy again.
Spain became The Second Spanish Republic after King Alfonso III was deposed in 1931. Francisco Franco defeated the Republic in 1939 and became Dictator. He reinstated the Monarchy and named Juan Carlos I, the grandson of Alfonso III, as the next King before his death in 1975. Juan Carlos I worked to peacefully transition Spain to a Constitutional Monarchy and approved a New Constitution in 1978. Carlos stayed King until 2014.
Offiically it's not a monarchy but in practice it's one.