The Making of Modern Atlantic Monarchies: 1770 to the Present Day

This two-volume study sees contributors from the UK, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Singapore and ten countries from across mainland Europe analyse how monarchy has been theorized and implemented in the Atlantic world from the birth of conservatism during the French Revolution to the present day. Using monarchy as a lens, it also provides an original exploration of how conservatism, often branded as reactive, can be viewed as a continual response to, and reinterpretation of, pivotal social and political events over the longue durée.

The Making of Modern Atlantic Monarchies shows that 1789, the Bourbons’ return, the 1848 revolutions, the US Civil War, World War I, the rise and fall of fascism and other events became catalysts that triggered conservative thought and waves of traditionalist renovations ― often posing as restorations ― which swept through both Europe and the United States. It argues that these renovations were themselves bound up with the transformation of monarchy, which was forced to reinvent itself, sometimes gradually and sometimes suddenly, following the steady destruction of its traditional forms of legitimation. The 33 chapters included, covering over 20 nations across the Atlantic world and extending to Asia, reveal that, by reflecting on monarchy as an institution, strands of monarchist conservatism developed what were often bold, innovative and even radical answers to modernity’s political dilemmas.

The study breaks new ground by detailing how nationally and internationally significant events impelled political thinkers and movements across the Atlantic to reflect on European monarchy in order to articulate forms of conservatism whose legacies persist today, both consciously and unconsciously, as both constituents of, and provocations to, the democratic process. At the same time, The Making of Modern Atlantic Monarchies illustrates the unity and diversity of the Atlantic ideological landscape even while providing an overview and a reference for those interested in conservatism’s centuries-long history.