if it so chose

This part is very important. How is this choice made? In autocratic systems, the direction provided by the autocrat forms the basis of state policy and determines the direction in which the energies of the state and the peoples are applied. Other systems, including Constitutional republics, turn issues like these into a matter of debate. This inevitably fosters disagreement, division and eventually, internal conflict, the result of which can never be wholly certain. A Constitutional republic has all the administrative tools of an autocratic state at its disposal, but its ability to wield those tools are constrained by the potential for division and conflict first among the elite and eventually across all of society. We have seen many cases of this in modern history.