Continental Europe is home to four micro-states with populations of 30,000 to 80,000 people: Andorra, on the border between France and Spain; Liechtenstein, located between Switzerland and Austria; Monaco, located on the French Riviera; and San Marino, which is surrounded by northern Italy.
These states have existed since medieval times and their small size has enabled them to develop and maintain a single constitutional system. All of them developed original solutions to the problems of state architecture, many of which survive today.
All four microstates participate in the Council of Europe (Europe’s human rights organization) and so have had to modernize to meet international standards of governance. This also includes the independence of the judiciary.
However, all four have implemented these reforms without changing their institutional identity. Their commitment to maintaining their distinctiveness from other countries prevents comprehensive reform of their institutions. For them, defense of national tradition and identity is a form of self-preservation rather than an expression of ideology.
The uniqueness of the four microstates lies in the existence of institutional arrangements that can no longer be found practically anywhere else in the world. For example, in the Principalities of Liechtenstein and Monaco, the monarchy still has a central role in the constitution.
Unlike most European states with monarchies, in Liechtenstein and Monaco, the royal head of state continues to exercise substantive power. Meanwhile, Andorra and San Marino operate under a dual head-of-state system. They effectively have two kings.
The institutional arrangements in these princely states have been shaped by their small size both in terms of area and population and their geographical location. And these systems have survived from the Middle Ages because they have become their identity. While in other countries national tradition is an ideological debate, in these preserving the past is a survival mechanism.
Liechtenstein and Monaco
Liechtenstein and Monaco are the kind of constitutional monarchies 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 usually have a ceremonial king or queen but executive power rests with an elected government. Liechtenstein and Monaco have maintained their historical organization of government, centered on a very powerful monarch.
Although his powers are not unlimited, in Monaco, the Prince is not even answerable to Parliament for his powers. The Prince of Liechtenstein enjoys even greater powers, including the right to appoint half of the members of the Constitutional Court.
However, the Prince of Liechtenstein’s sovereign power is held in partnership with the people of Liechtenstein. The institutional architecture is designed to allow a system of checks and balances between the prince and the people.
For example, since a 2003 constitutional amendment, the people can present a motion of no-confidence against the Prince if more than 1,500 citizens agree to do so, thereby triggering a referendum on confidence in him. An equal number of citizens could take the initiative to abolish the monarchy altogether, if they wished to do so.
Andorra and San Marino
The Principality of Andorra should more properly be called a Co-Principality because of the system of co-princes. 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). So another peculiarity of Andorra is that none of the princes are Andorran citizens.
After the 1993 reform which established a full constitution, no prince has sovereign power. Their current constitutional role is almost entirely ceremonial. However, concerns remain over the fact that they are not citizens of the state and that heads of state are selected neither by the Andorran people nor by their representatives. The historical reason for the foreign head of state is Andorra’s geographical location – located between Catalonia and France. Allowing ourselves to be subjected to this dual sovereignty was a guarantee of survival.
San Marino also has a two-headed state but both leaders, called Captain Regents, 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 for 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 elected offices.
The Captain Regent cannot muster enough power to be able to overthrow the Republic during the short period of his tenure. Captaincy Regent was first established in 1243, shortly before several Italian republics were overthrown by wealthy families. One reason San Marino has been able to survive is that it has prevented one family from becoming more powerful than others for centuries.
Therefore, microstates are not like the regular-sized states of Europe. They have specific institutional architectures – and often for understandable reasons.
,Author: Elisa Bertolini, Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, Bocconi University)
,disclosure statement: Elisa Bertolini does not work for, consult, hold shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and she has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment. haven’t done)
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