[Austin Willard Wright]

I think is limiting his analysis to absolute monarchy, otherwise, of course, one could ask: what about the Kingdom of Sweden?

[Burkeman1]

Well- let's examine absolute Monarchs then. The Russian Czars were absolute and as their power became even more absolute and consilidated Serfdom actually got worse until it resembled American slavery by it's final years (where serfs could be bought and sold at markets and were no longer merely tied to the land). Further- Russia expanded and conquered most of it's territory while under the rule of these absolute monarchs (as did the Austro- Hungarian empire). Chinese Emperors waged wars with millions of troops even before guns or cannon had been invented and decimated entire populations. The Mayan Kings and the Aztecs- both waged war on mass scale- mobilizing the entire population for the effort.

I think the argument is highly flawed that Monarchs are "less intrusive" and or wage war less than "Democracies".