Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. Conversely, the opposition to monarchical rule is referred to as republicanism.

Monarchical rule is among the oldest political institutions. The similar form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric. Chiefdoms provided the concept of state formation, which started with civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley civilization. In some parts of the world, chiefdoms became monarchies.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Enlightenment began. This resulted in new anti-monarchist ideas which resulted in several revolutions such as the 18th century American Revolution and the French Revolution which were both additional steps in the weakening of power of European monarchies.

In 1974, one of the world's oldest monarchies was abolished in Ethiopia with the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie.

For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC, and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.

The emperor of Japan or Tennō (天皇; pronounced [tennoꜜː]), literally "ruler from heaven" or "heavenly sovereign", is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The Imperial Household Law governs the line of imperial succession. The emperor is personally immune from prosecution and is also recognized as the head of the Shinto religion, which holds the emperor to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. According to tradition, the office of emperor was created in the 7th century BC, but modern scholars believe that the first emperors did not appear until the 5th or 6th centuries AD. During the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333, the shōguns were the de facto rulers of Japan, with the emperor and the imperial court acting as figureheads. In 1867, shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu stepped down, restoring Emperor Meiji to power. The Meiji Constitution was adopted In 1889, after which the emperor became an active ruler with considerable political power that was shared with the Imperial Diet. After World War II, the 1947 Constitution of Japan was enacted, defining the emperor as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people. The emperor has exercised a purely ceremonial role ever since.

Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the Republic of German-Austria was proclaimed. The Constitutional Assembly of German Austria passed the Habsburg Law, which permanently exiled the Habsburg family from Austria. Despite this, significant support for the Habsburg family persisted in Austria. Following the Anschluss of 1938, the Nazi government suppressed monarchist activities. By the time Nazi rule ended in Austria, support for monarchism had largely evaporated.

France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.