Oddb@ll said:
*sigh* I have problems the other way around.... Playing Prussia and want to stay as a monarchy with the Kaiser as supreme ruler. But these uprisings are killing me.
It is very hard, as your society's plurality rises its awareness of the changes in political and social reforms of other nations arises, sparking demands for similar changes in their nation.
Important to remember that Prussia itself did not remain an absolute monarchy, in 1848 it did reform itself into a con-mon with a limited franchise, which led to the rise of a Prussian liberalism that so challenged royal prerogative that Bismarck would be brought in in 1862 to find a solution, which he did.
But if you are determined to swim against the tide of history, the important thing is to make sure your POPs have all the material comforts - can buy all their needs including lux needs on occasion. Nothing in Victoria is as powerful an opiate as material comfort. Low taxes are key (every % below 33 your taxes are produces a constant -0.005 MIL drop for all pops in that tax bracket, thus 10% tax rate produces a constant -0.115 MIL drop). Keeping a garrison in each province ensures a constant -0.20 MIL drop for as long as a military unit is in a province.
Slowly industrializing so that the majority of your POPs remain naturally conservative will help, since POPs that share the ideology of your ruling party get a huge constant MIL drop for as long as the party is in power. POPs sharing issues with the government in power also get constant MIL drops even if they are a different ideology.
But in the end, trying to preserve 18th C models of power into the 20th C with all the economic changes industrialization provides is very difficult to accomplish. Industrial POPs are by default liberal or socialist, and if they get militant they become anarcholiberal or communist. Demand for political and social reforms will increase over time as plurality arises, the best you can do is try and offset these rises with tactics that lower POP mil, but in the end you will be constantly struggling to keep a lid on rising demands for change.
And in the end, moderate reforms that make you a Con-Mon do not represent a major loss of control - don't like the results of an election, simply appoint a government yourself (as the Prussian king did in 1862 with Bismarck). Yes you get a one-off +1.00 MIL hit, but if you have administered your state well so that most POPs have wealth and there is a strong military presence, you can ride it out. Con-Mon gives the ruler a great amount of leverage, allowing for the facade of reform to be made (and lowering POP MIL at the time of the reforms) while keeping the substance of who in the end controls who forms the government in your hands.
