The topic of this week's lectures focused on monarchies, as we discussed various different types of monarchies from small state monarchies such as Eswatini and Luxemburg, to dynastic absolute monarchies such as Saudi Arabia. We focused on what defined a monarchy, and the common traits that monarchies around the world possessed.
The most fascinating part of the discussion in my opinion, was the discussion over the decline of monarchies in the modern age. I found this interesting as monarchies were extremely commonplace centuries ago, yet today they are extremely rare and limited in numbers, influence and size.
What caused the end of monarchies? What is the killer of monarchies?
I believe that resource diversification is the killer of absolute monarchies. During the lectures we focused on Saudi Arabia as a prime example of an absolute monarchy. This is just one example that I will use. Saudi Arabia’s dynasty; the house of Saud, first came into power centuries ago on the Arabian peninsula, conquering lands and consolidating power. While this monarchy remained strong, as the centuries flew by and the modern age peered its head, the dynasty was substantially weakened, especially on the world stage. Other forms of governorships, such as democracy and authoritarianism rose in popularity and power, and many previous monarchies around the world collapsed. However Saudi Arabia would regain power and stability with the discovery of mass oil and gas reserves within its borders. This led to massive economic growth, and allowed the royal family to remain in charge, as they consolidated power and kept a tight grip of both the military and the oil and gas reserves.
This leads into my biggest point, I believe that the dependence on a singular resource is what keeps absolute monarchies in power, as they are able to control and manipulate this vital resource, maintaining both influence over their domestics and internal politics and government, as well as international geopolitics. In fact, reports show that the economy of Saudi Arabia is extremely dependent on oil and gas as 50% of its GDP, 70% of export earnings, 60% of the budget revenues are related to oil and gas sectors. This marks a massive reliance on those resources, and thus any group that has deep control over said resources is able to keep a tight grasp on the nation of Sadui Arabia, and remain in power. There are various other examples of this, Brunei is one such case.
Brunei is heavily dependent on its oil and gas, with those resources accounting for over 91% of total commodity export and 76% of government revenue. Thus the Sultanate of Brunei is able to maintain a strict and tight hold over these vital resources, and thus consolidate and remain in power. Oman is another example of an absolute monarchy with its main income stemming from gas and oil resources, although it does not fare as well as its neighbour Saudi Arabia.
I believe that a more diversification of resources, leads to a weaker absolute monarchy, as the royal family is less able to consolidate and hoard the vital resources needed for the country's economy. As their grip weakens, their strength weakens, as does the possibility of being overthrown or overpowered by either government entities, political parties, or even the military branch. This perhaps can be seen in the empires of old, such as the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Of course these empires had other various circumstances which contributed towards their decline and eventual collapse, however I believe that a wider variety of resources make it far harder to a single body such as the royal family, to stay in power, as other internal bodies within the monarchy would be able to seize the resources, and therefore “level the playing field”.
Of course this theory is not flawless, there are various other nations that survive against resource diversification. The biggest example would be Eswatini, which is an absolute monarchy, however it possesses a diverse economy, with more than half the economy concentrated in services and industry manufacturing making up another third. Perhaps the road to collapse of the monarchy has just begun, or perhaps the monarchy will stand strong and remain absolute, despite my theories.
Only time will tell.
Sources:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/eswatini/overview
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/stability-growth-and-sustainability/oil-and-gas-dependence-of-brunei-economy-current-progress-and-challenges/4409E3DE19645812FF126DE4C57CAD83
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301420722001477#:~:text=The%20economy%20of%20KSA%20is,to%20the%20financial%20resource%20curse.
https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/oman-oil-gas
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