Portal:Politics/Selected article/2007, week 14
A ceremonial role. Where a monarch holds absolute power, it is known as an absolute monarchy. The process of government and law within an absolute monarchy can be very different from that in a constitutional monarchy.
In representative democracies that are constitutional monarchies, like the United Kingdom, the monarch may be regarded as the head of state but the prime minister, whose power derives directly or indirectly from elections, is head of government.
Although current constitutional monarchies are mostly representative democracies (called constitutional democratic monarchies), this has not always historically been the case. There have been monarchies which have coexisted with constitutions which were
military dictatorships, as is currently the case in Thailand
.