"The New Testament of constitutional monarchy... quite different from any other book you are likely to read about political systems— largely because of its scope. It is a kind of international book which analyses systems all around the world."
Dame Leonie Kramer, then Chancellor, University of Sydney.
"Probably the most important book to be published on the topic to date... Read the book? I've dog-eared every page of it!"
Clive James.
For the Sovereignty of the People:
For the Sovereignty of the People:
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A Conversation with Niccolò's Ghost and a Defence
of the Crown in the Westminster System.
Nigel Greenwood
Australian Academic Press 1999
This book on politics, history and legal philosophy has an Introduction by the late Sir Walter Campbell AC QC, former Governor and Chief Justice of Queensland, and has been reviewed in the Australian Law Journal by a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
The author and his book have appeared in the international media, including interviews and discussion by the BBC World Service and Sky News. He was one of two experts on the BBC World Service for a global debate (31st October 1999) on the future of constitutional monarchy in parliamentary democracy. More recently he has also addressed the Cambridge Union, the team successfully defeating the historic motion That This House Would Become a Republic.
The author argues that the republican ideal of government "...of the people, by the people, for the people" has permanently parted company from the republican form of government. A monarchist, not a royalist, he argues that the important aspects of the monarchy are not the sentimental or tabloid details, but the constitutional role that has evolved within parliamentary democracy over centuries, in Britain and the rest of the Commonwealth.
He advocates the importance of the Crown in the Westminster parliamentary system of democracy, to limit executive power and help preserve peaceful, culturally diverse societies in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. He contrasts the legal safeguards inherent in the Westminster system with the failures of governance in the United States and France, exemplified by Tea Pot Dome, Watergate and Iran-Contra in the US and the lawless excesses of the de Gaulle regime in France.
He also argues that many Britons
are ignorant of these safeguards, due to the erroneous beliefs
of Bagehot (largely ignored elsewhere in the Commonwealth), tabloid
class obsessions and the 20th Century decay in awareness of legal
and political doctrines. These neglected safeguards are crucial
for civil liberties and preservation of popular sovereignty in
the 21st Century.
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During the 1999 Referendum year in Australia, Dr Greenwood was
invited to address many political debates and fora on the republican
question. As well as school and apolitical community groups,
this included events organised by groups affiliated with political
parties, including the Greens, the Australian Labor Party, the
Liberal Party of Australia and rural farmers' fora. The author's
presence at any debate or forum should not be construed as representing
any affiliation with, endorsement of, or agreement with the political
views espoused by any organiser or other participant of those
events. His own political position is limited to advocating the
importance of the Crown in the Westminster parliamentary system
of democracy, to limit executive power and help preserve peaceful,
culturally diverse societies in the Commonwealth. |
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