God Save the Crown
What form of governance can best provide the 3 ‘S’s (security, shelter and sustenance) to its population through Full-Up Decline?
In the past decade, as the impact of the three global drivers has begun to be felt, there has been a corresponding trend towards greater autocracy, whereby governments take on more of the ‘responsibility’ to provide for its citizens, in return for reduced ‘rights’.
Autocratic nations, meeting in Samarkand last month under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, believe cutting out political opposition and reducing ‘rights’ will increase national productivity, creating a new world order better able to cope with the challenges ahead.
As we enter Full-Up Decline, greater State control of ‘right’ and ‘responsibility’ is probably unavoidable, even in current liberal democracies. The critical issue then becomes: How will the population be engaged in this process of autocratisation? Will it be Fairly-through-Assent (as with Covid recently in most democracies) or, Manipulatively-by-Deception (as with the most closed autocracies today). In Liberal Democracies, autocratisation with assent will require a framework of objective checks and balances to ensure all options have been considered before changes of policy are enacted.
It is in this context that the benefits of something equivalent to a Constitutional Monarchy – as exemplified by the late Elizabeth II – comes to the fore. An informed but silent, apolitical voice able to question political power.
God Save the Crown?
