Mikaere III: Difference between revisions

'''Mikaere III''' was the ''Rangitanga-o-te-Moana'' ([[Monarchy of the Oan Isles|monarch]] of [[the Oan Isles]] from 1904 to 1936. Also known as Mikaere the Reformer, he was responsible for the democratisation of the Oan Isles and continued the modernisation of the Oan Isles. He succeeded his father [[Rangitake the Great]] in 1904 and led the Oan Isles through the [[Great War]].

==Democratic reforms==

Mikaere III was described as an astute political actor in that he could detect the changing political fortunes of monarchies such as that of the Oan Isles. He stated that he believed that a time was coming in which absolute and semi-absolute monarchy would no longer be a viable way of running increasingly complex modern nations. For this reason, he asked the Council of Elders to draft a report and advise him on the formation of a new constitution. The Council of Elders consisted of prominent people in society on whom the monarch relied for advice.

Mikaere III issued a land reform decree which forced nobles to sell off their estates to tenant farmers at a cost subsidized by the state. Although the nobles were deeply embittered by these Reforms, Mikaere III gave the Council of Chiefs the power to approve legislation. To allay the concerns of the youth and intellectuals and to discourage their criticism of the monarchy, Mikaere III established the Council of the People as an advisory and deliberative body. These reforms were eventually consolidated into the Constitution of the Oan Isles in a similar vein to the Great Charter of Liberties of [[Great Morstaybishlia]] that King [[Thadeus II]] had been forced to sign at the end of the Great War.