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Posted by Toby A Inkster on 05/01/07 11:33
Christopher A.Lee wrote:
> Toby A Inkster wrote:
>
>> Whatsmore, the Spain is a monarchy. The King of Spain retains the right
>> to veto any act of parliament; or to dissolve parliament and call a new
>> election.
>
> Except of course that when the monarchy was restored there, it was as a
> figurehead. All the European monarchies are.
That depends very much on your definition of "figurehead". Although it is
true that modern European monarchs very rarely *use* their powers as heads
of state, they do still *have* these powers.
Many of those with written constitutions, including Spain, have the powers
of the monarch officially written into the constitution. In Spain, the
powers mentioned above are the King's constitutional rights.
As it happens, Juan Carlos I, the current King of Spain, has been far more
active in politics than a European monarch would typically be. He was
heavily involved in writing Spain's current constitution, and during the
late 1970s and early 1980s, steered the Spanish political process during
its difficult transition from Franco's dictatorship to the modern democracy
it now is. He was widely credited with thwarting the 1981 military coup
against the elected government.
--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/
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