2. The monarchical family. The key distinction here is between what
we call “small hereditary monarchical families” and “large dynastic ruling
families.” In the former, only the monarch tends to hold high state
office, thereby making the shift toward constitutionalism and (eventually)
DPM likelier to take place than will be the case if there is a large
royal family whose members fill senior government posts.6
In the latter
instance, the family controls major military, financial, and economic
resources that furnish both motive and means to guard dynastic prerogatives.
In such a case, a monarch who is personally willing to cede
powers to a parliament may be blocked by relatives from doing so. A
monarch who rules alone, without a battery of kinfolk spread across
the commanding heights of state power, will by contrast be more apt to
disarm revolutionary threats by acceding to reform, perhaps even to the
point of accepting a DPM.