Why and how did the constitutional state triumph in England and the Dutch Republic?

While most European nations developed absolutist states in the seventeenth century, England and the Netherlands evolved toward constitutionalism, which is the limitation of government by law. Constitutionalism also implies a balance between the authority and power of the government, on the one hand, and the rights and liberties of the subjects, on the other.

After decades of civil war and an experiment with republicanism, the English opted for a constitutional monarchy in 1688. Under this system of government, England retained a monarch as the titular head of government but vested sovereignty in an elected parliament. For their part, the Dutch rejected monarchical rule in 1648, when their independence from Spain was formally recognized. Instead they adopted a republican form of government in which elected Estates (assemblies) held supreme power.