Continental Europe is home to four microstates with a population of between 30,000 and 80,000 people: Andorra, on the border between France and Spain; Liechtenstein, located between Switzerland and Austria; Monaco, which is located on the French Riviera; and San Marino, surrounded by northern Italy.
These states have existed since the Middle Ages, and their small size has allowed them to develop and maintain unique constitutional arrangements. All of them developed original solutions to the problems of state architecture, many of which still exist today.
All four of these microstates participate in the Council of Europe (the European Human Rights Organization) and have therefore had to modernize to meet international governance standards. This includes the independence of the judiciary.
However, all four also implemented these reforms without changing their institutional identities. Their commitment to maintaining their distinctiveness from other countries prevents broader reforms of their institutions. For them, the protection of national tradition and identity is a form of self-preservation rather than just an expression of ideology.
The distinctiveness of the four microstates lies in the persistence of institutional arrangements that can no longer be found virtually anywhere else in the world. In the principalities of Liechtenstein and Monaco, for example, the monarchy still plays a central role in the constitution.
Unlike most European states with a monarchy, in Liechtenstein and Monaco the royal head of state continues to exercise significant power. Andorra and San Marino now operate under a dual head of state regime. They actually have two monarchs.
The populations of Europe’s medieval microstates.
World Bank/Data Commons, CC BY-ND
The institutional arrangements in these principalities are shaped by their small size, both in terms of territory and population, and by their geographical location. And these arrangements have persisted since the Middle Ages because they have become their identity. While national tradition is an ideological debate in other countries, preserving the past in these countries is a survival mechanism.
Liechtenstein and Monaco
Liechtenstein and Monaco are constitutional monarchies of the kind that grant substantial power to the royal family. Everything is organized around a prince, who exercises executive power. Contemporary monarchies in the Western legal tradition generally have a ceremonial king or queen, but executive power is in the hands of an elected government. Liechtenstein and Monaco have retained their historic government organization, centered on a very powerful monarch.
The Royal Family of Monaco will celebrate their National Day in 2023.
EPA
Although his powers are not unlimited, the prince in Monaco is not even accountable to parliament for the powers he does have. The Prince of Liechtenstein has even more powers, including the right to appoint half of the members of the constitutional court.
However, the sovereign power of the Prince of Liechtenstein is exercised in cooperation with the people of Liechtenstein. The institutional architecture is built in such a way that a system of checks and balances between the prince and the people is possible.
For example, since a 2003 constitutional amendment, the people can submit a motion of no confidence against the prince if more than 1,500 citizens agree, triggering a referendum on confidence in him. The same number of citizens can set up an initiative abolish the monarchy completelyif they chose to do so.
Andorra and San Marino
The principality of Andorra could better be called co-principality, because of the co-principal arrangement. One of the princes is the Bishop of Urgell – from Catalonia – and the other is the President of the French Republic (and previously the French King or Emperor). Another Andorran peculiarity is that none of the princes has Andorran nationality.
Emmanuel Macron and Joan Enric Vives, the co-monarchs of Andorra.
EPA
After a 1993 reform, which created a full-fledged constitution, neither prince has sovereign power. Their current constitutional role is almost entirely ceremonial. However, concerns remain over the fact that they are not citizens and that the heads of state are elected neither by the Andorran people nor by their representatives. The historical reason for a foreign head of state is Andorra’s geographical location – sandwiched between Catalonia and France. Allowing oneself to be placed under this dual sovereignty was a guarantee of survival.
San Marino also has a two-member state, but both leaders, called the Captains Regent, are Sammarinese citizens. They are elected by the Grand and General Council (the Sammarinese legislative body) and their distinguishing feature is that they serve only a six-month term.
The reason for such a short tenure is that San Marino has a population of just under 34,000. Everyone knows everyone, which is a situation that can be detrimental to the independence of electives.
Captains Regent cannot gain enough power in their short term to overthrow the republic. The Captains Regent was first established in 1243, shortly before a number of Italian republics were overthrown by wealthy families. One of the reasons San Marino has been able to survive is because for centuries it prevented one family from becoming more powerful than the other.
Microstates are therefore not of normal size like European states. They have a distinctive institutional architecture – and often for understandable reasons.
Leave a Reply