Historians, and, indeed, most people, dismiss fuedalism as a cruel and medieval system that has no place in the modern world. However, it is my view that along with absolute monarchy, a feudal or semi-feudal system could provide a stable and prosperous society.
Historical feudalism, where serfs and their families were bound to a particular lord and could not move to outside of their lord's borders is obviously not applicable in today's world, and is arguably not a good system. However, if elements of capitalism are introduced, a hybrid between the two systems under the guidance of a strong monarch is not only possible, but in my eyes, prefferable. Bear in mind that this is only a hypothetical, conceptual system, as no such system has ever been put into practice.
In this system, Lords would "own" parts of the land as vassals to the king, but "serfs" would be free to move from one fief to another. This would create competition between the lords, as people would migrate in order to gain lower taxation, better quality of housing, etc. In esscence, it would run just like free-market capitalism, except in circumstances when the reigning king would need to interfere. This would encourage lords to increase general quality of life for their citizens, negating the popular stereotypes that feudalism means low quality of life. Of course, one other stereotype that people have of feudalism is that everyone but knights and lords would be agricultural workers. This wouldn't be the case in the system I am proposing. Every fiefdom would need agricultural workers, yes. But every fiefdom would need labourers, doctors, teachers, etc. Practically every job one could find in the current system one could find in this system. Education would be funded by the state and compulsary so everyone would be educated to the proper standards of today.
The military would be a key part of the heirarchy such a system would entail. Under a lord (who has sworn loyalty to the king), there would be a good number of knights and, by extension, knightly families. This hereditary class would take up the highest ranks of the military, and would be trained from birth to be competant in said ranks. These knights could then operate as teachers for the standing army during times of peace.
Despite the fact that the lords would hold great power within their own fiefs, they would still be subject to the legislation that the king passes, and would have to comply if they wished to keep their titles, thus keeping the monarchy an absolute one - Lords would basically act as local governers for counties/provinces/states within a country, and knights would act as the highest ranks of the military and the title of knight could be gained in a meritocratic way as well as in a hereditary way. The king would be the supreme lord towards which everyone would owe loyalty.
In conclusion, I believe that a system that combines classic feudalism with capitalism and meritocracy would be a very good way of running the country, as long as there was an absolute monarch to oversee it.
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