Europe’s microstates: the medieval monarchies that survive in our midst

By Elisa Bertolini, Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, Bocconi University

Continental Europe is home to four microstates with populations of between 30,000 and 80,000 people: Andorra, on the border between France and Spain; Liechtenstein, nestled between Switzerland and Austria; Monaco, which sits on the French Riviera; and San Marino, which is surrounded by northern Italy.

These states have existed since the medieval period and their tiny size has enabled them to develop and maintain singular constitutional arrangements. They have all developed original solutions to the problems of state architecture, many of which survive today.

All four of…

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