|
Sponsored Links
A personal union is the combination by which two different states are governed by the same monarch, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct.[1] It is not to be confused with a federation, which internationally is considered as a single state. Neither is it to be confused with dynastic union, where the union can be under a dynasty. Personal unions can arise for very different reasons, ranging from near coincidence (a princess who is already married to a king becomes queen regnant, and their child inherits the crown of both countries) to virtual annexation (where a personal union sometimes was seen as a means of preventing uprisings). They can also be codified (i.e. the constitutions of the states clearly express that they shall share the same person as head of state) or non-codified, in which case they can easily be broken (e.g. by different succession rules). Because presidents of republics are ordinarily chosen from within the citizens of the state in question, personal unions are almost entirely a phenomenon of monarchies, and sometimes the term dual monarchy is used to signify a personal union between two monarchies. With the decline of monarchies during the 20th century, personal unions have become quite uncommon. Where they do exist is most notably between the Commonwealth realms[2][3], where, beyond the United Kingdom, the Governor-General is the vice-regal representative of the Monarch. There is a somewhat grey area between personal unions and federations, and the first has regularly grown into the second. This article is an attempt at listing some historical and contemporary personal unions.
|
Personal Union Subcategories
Personal Union Articles
|
| 
