Republican calls for a monarchy
Lewis Holden writes:
I come to this argument from an unusual starting point. I am not a monarchist by instinct, nor am I a republican absolutist. As many know, I am openly supportive of New Zealand becoming a republic, on the grounds that our constitutional arrangements should reflect our own democratic maturity and national identity.
That position, however, does not require me to believe that monarchy is always and everywhere a bad idea. Constitutional arrangements are tools, not moral absolutes, and their value depends entirely on the historical, cultural, and political context in which they are applied.
This is in fact a large part of my argument for a New Zealand republic: the institution of monarchy in our context is British (no matter what silly arguments might be constructed claiming the British Royals are not in fact British). This is not the case in Iran, where monarchy was the product of thousands of years of history.
I was on the Republican Movement National Council with Lewis (and Kieran McAnulty) for many years. I broadly agree. A constitutional monarchy in the UK makes sense as it has been part of their history for 1,000 years. But in NZ, we should have a New Zealander as our head of state.
It is from that perspective that I argue the return of the Iranian monarchy would be a good thing, and quite possibly a necessary one, if Iran is ever to fully escape the grip of totalitarian theocracy and transition to liberal democracy. Iran’s circumstances are exceptional. The familiar Western assumption that a secular republic is the natural and inevitable destination for all societies fails to account for Iranian history, political culture, and the reality of where power currently lies.
Done well a constitutional monarchy can act as a unifying institution. A democratic Iran as a constitutional monarchy would be a very good thing. As present they basically have a non-hereditary monarchy with an absolute ruler for life.
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