A monarchy I'm developing right now is wavering between absolute and constitutional. Would it be reasonable for the monarchy to establish a sort of parliament without necessarily giving it much power over the law? I imagine it'd be like the Estates-General in that regards. Would the people be quelled believing they had a say in the government or would there be calls for revolution?
The short answer would be…. Maybe? It would all depend on the culture and the perceptions of power. Having a ~just for funsies~ parliament may totally placate the people, or it may make them even madder because they are being led on and having their intelligence insulted. Power distance is actually one of the ways to describe and differentiate cultures. PDI (power distance index) is a measure of how a group of lesser power accepts the power imbalance.Â
A higher number would indicate that a society is totally cool with having an imbalanced power hierarchy. The lower the number, the more a society wants equality to the extreme – everyone is equal, there’s no or extremely little power hierarchy, they question authority, and they are willing to revolt if they feel as though too much power has been taken from them. Examples cultures with lower PDIs include the US, UK, and Germany. Cultures with higher PDIs include China, India, and Colombia.Â
I should note that a power hierarchy doesn’t necessarily just refer to governments, but also institutions and relationships.
I would suggest you focus on developing your society’s culture, particularly their PDI. Ask yourself questions such as:
Do children question their parents’ authority? Do they ask a lot of questions or tend to accept answers?
Do children think their opinions are important and matter?
How much do they respect their bosses and their bosses’ decisions?
Do people tend to have very clearly defined jobs?
Do children question or challenge their teacher’s knowledge?
Are people taught to defer to their betters from a young age?
Mod Galbraith adds: you could also look up the English Parliament before they gained real political autonomy from the monarch. For a long while, the monarch could call and dismiss Parliament at whim, and tended to rule entirely without them unless they needed to raise more taxes. English parliamentary history is by no means my area of expertise, but we did have a whole civil war between the monarchy and parliament! Googling the English Civil War might give you some more ideas on how a powerful monarch could keep the vast amount of control over the country, or, conversely, why this might greatly upset both Parliament and the people at large, hence leading to a rebellion.
We hoped this helped!
