Posted by Christopher A.Lee on 05/01/07 13:37

On Tue, 1 May 2007 12:33:39 +0100, Toby A Inkster
<usenet200703@tobyinkster.co.uk> wrote:

>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.

No. Most Americans don't understand the power of precedent.

The Prime Minister (literally "first adviser") has the actual power,
which he derives from parliament. They advise the monarch, who signs
the decisions of parliament into law.

For example in the UK there were three revolutions, and each time the
monarch's power was reduced. Culminating in the Glorious Revolution
where William of Orange was made King under strict conditions of what
the monarchy could or couldn't do.

>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.

And he'll be deposed if he ever tries to use them.

>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.

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