当代欧洲皇室巡礼.doc

当代欧洲皇室巡礼甘肃的Victor问：很多欧洲国家好像都有国王或女王，可同时还有议会和大选，而且这些君主平时很少露面。那么，皇室成员在国家中到底是个什么地位，或者说有什么实际作用呢？还有一个问题，君主制就是专政吗？废除了不行么？ Tom：这个问题有点儿复杂，不过我首先要在这里说明一点，君主立宪政体和君主政体是有区别的。前者是大多数欧洲君主制国家所采用的形式，而后者则的确与专政有相似之处。在下文中，我会主要以英国为例，讲讲这方面的情况，因为君主立宪制国家在制度上都是大同小异的。 Many European countries remain monarchies today, including the UK and the Commonwealth, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Monaco. The Pope is also technically a monarch as he is the sovereign of the Holy See - however, with subjects numbering fewer than a thousand, this is not a huge deal. The larger countries are all constitutional, rather than absolute, monarchies. Today, constitutional monarchy is almost always combined with representative democracy, and represents theories of sovereignty which place sovereignty in the hands of the people, and those that see a role for tradition in the theory of government. Though the king or queen may be regarded as the head of state, it is the Prime Minister, whose power derives directly or indirectly from elections, who actually governs the country. In most constitutional monarchies today, the monarchy exists only at the allowance of the elected parliament. In many cases, a simple vote in parliament would be sufficient to abolish the monarchy and replace it with some form of republic. ①With the exception of post-war Italy, no modern, democratic constitutional monarchy has voted to do so. Most have ended as a result of complications following the aftermath of war or invasion (such as Austria or Germany) or because of a violent revolution (such as in Russia or Greece). Heads of state in countries with either a partly unwritten constitution (such as the United Kingdom) or a wholly written constitution (such as Australia) generally have “reserve powers”. The head of state can be a monarch or the monarch’s representative. Typically these powers are: ＊to appoint a Prime Minister; ＊to dismiss a Prime Minister; ＊to refuse