The Role of the British Crown on Security Issues

• Author: Behar Selimi
• Position: University 'Ukshin Hoti' Prizren
• Pages: 125-133

Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Tirana-Albania

Vol. 2 No. 2

July 2016

ISSN 2410-3918

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

125

The Role of the British Crown on Security Issues

Behar Selimi

UniversityUkshinHotiPrizren

Abstract

United Kingdom is a limited parliamentary monarchy, in which state sovereignty is exer-

cised jointly by two basic political institutions: Royal Crown and Parliament. The credit for a

successful political co-governance of these institutions, which are simultaneously bearers of

popularsovereigntyareusuallyaddressedtotheQueenslackofexecutivepowertoexercise

power alone and hence all the restraint in the race for primate of governance. It goes even fur-

ther considering that the Queen is quite weak and has only ceremonial functions, which do not

disturb the Parliament. However, a careful researcher may notice that the Queen continues to

aecttheBritishGovernmentingeneralandin particularondefenceissuesDeclassication

of communication between Prince Charles and the Government in 2013, pointed out a con-

tinuing impact of the Queen and her son on many political issues, including those of defence

andsecuritySinceBritainhasnocodiedconstitutionina singledocumentit isnoteasyto

determinethe real powerand competences of theQueen It isevenmore dicult because

customarylawandprecedentprevailThereforetherealdenitionoftheroleoftheQueenin

general in the British Government, can be done by studying the culture, structure and consti-

tutionalpracticeOntheirbasisIwilltrytodeterminetherealimpactoftheQueeninmaers

of defence and security, whether through her prerogatives in relation to the Government and

Parliamentor through moral andinformalinuence in relation to thePrimeMinister and

particular ministers.

Keywords: Crown, Queen, Prerogative, defence and security, Supreme Commander.

Introduction

The form of government in England is the typical form of parliamentary monarchy, in

which the executive power is formally under the authority of the King, but practically is

exercisedbytheGovernmentonbehalfoftheKingItsaystheQueenmayrulebutthe

PrimeMinisterandministersgovernBradleyEwingTheBritishmodelof

governance is one of the most stable political systems in the world, which has weathered

the revolutionary tendencies by occasional sectarian reforms without touching the balance

between the traditional legitimacy of the Crown and the representational legitimacy of

theParliamentTheoriginalityofthesystemisrootedinthegreatcompromisesaerthe

GloriousRevolutionbetweentherepresentativesof popularsovereigntyand

those who insist on the sovereignty of the King.

UndoubtedlyinthisbalemuchofthecontributioncamefromThomasHobbesand

JohnLockesphilosophical deliberations as well as from the French philosophers

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles Louis de Montesquieu. Characteristically, the

English political culture did not accept entirely any of the theories of the time: neither

HobbestheoryonstateabsolutismHobbesLeviathannortheabsolutism

ofthegeneral willof RussoRousseau DucontratsocialandevenLockes