abdication
- Related Topics:
- head of state
- executive
abdication, the renouncing of office and of power before the end of the term for which it was assumed.
In ancient Roman law abdicare meant primarily “to disown,” as when a father disowned a son, who was thereby disinherited. The word was also used in Latin as meaning “to renounce,” and its modern usage is generally confined to signifying the renunciation of supreme power in a state. When it is said that a potentate has abdicated, it may be implied that the act was voluntary. In many cases where abdication is alleged, however, there is an obvious element of constraint, a show of willingness being put forward in order to avoid the consequences of what would otherwise have to be called deposition. Even so, in arguing that James II of Great Britain "abdicated" by his desertion of the kingdom, the Whigs of 1689 seemed to be straining the sense of the word.
Notable voluntary abdications include those of Sulla, of Diocletian, and of the emperor Charles V. The abdication of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom was the result of conflict between personal and political interests. Abdications in the face of military disaster, revolution, or the threat of revolution include those of Napoleon I in 1814 and in 1815; of the French, Bavarian, and Austrian sovereigns in 1848; of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1911; of the German emperor William II, the Bulgarian tsar Ferdinand, and the Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI after World War I; and of kings Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Leopold III of Belgium, and Michael of Romania in the years following World War II. Abdications in the 21st century included Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (2013), Albert II of Belgium (2013), Sheikh Ḥamad ibn Khalīfah Āl Thānī of Qatar (2013), and King Juan Carlos of Spain (2014). The abdication of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 marked the first papal resignation since Gregory XII in 1415.
