“About monarchy” – Prof. S. Vitanovic

SLOBODAN VITANOVIC – ABOUT MONARCHY

Monarchy has not only undoubtedly long history and exceptionally important part in the development and prosperity of Serbian state, but also unquestionable advantages in present and close future.

Serbia was, as a part of the communist Yugoslavia, a fake republic, because her presidents were elected and perceived as if they were going to be presidents for life, which is definitely not a characteristic of a republican system settlement of a state. When Serbia began her attempts to become a democratic and parliamentary state, her weaknesses started to show: unsolvable conflicts between political options, between personal ambitions and the interests of leaders, the possibility of nominating utterly problematic personas, too frequent and expensive political campaigns which disjoin and create a fight amongst the people and depress and demobilize it, finally, even the impossibility of choosing the head of the state. Anyway, if the head of the state was elected, he would represent one tight majority or to be more precise minority of the people. The advantages of a democratic parliament monarchy in that spotlight become more than obvious. Besides that, the monarch, who is personifying the state, is acting as her pillar and support, is representing the people in whole and whose rule is not put under the already mentioned election reviews. Only because of his personality, his pedigree, his reputation and his natural connections with other monarchs and other heads of the states in the world, the monarch has greater importance than any other politician who has managed to get a sufficient number of votes.

The monarchy has its roots in tradition, but also fits in accordingly into the tendencies of the modern age. Coupling of the Crown and the Altar is tradition, but the separation of the state and the church is reality. The Crown conjoins and reconciles the former and the latter. The monarchy is tied by origin to religion and church, but by determinants democratic and parliamentary it is profane.

Monarchism is not an ideology – it is a form of state which changes and restores throughout the history. It is not about re-establishing something that has already existed and which the history rejected, but establishing something new on the foundation of a permanent idea. Contemporary monarchists stand for a modern mode of a constitutional parliamentary monarchy which has its roots in the period of the rule of HM King Peter I.

Prof. Slobodan Vitanovic (1928 – 2007.)

Professor of the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade; member of the Crown Council