despotism

View more History, Politics, Society videos

noun

1. A government in which a single leader or party exercises absolute control over all citizens and every aspect of their lives: absolutism, autarchy, autocracy, dictatorship, monocracy, tyranny. See over/under, politics.
2. A political doctrine advocating the principle of absolute rule: absolutism, authoritarianism, autocracy, dictatorship, totalitarianism. See over/under, politics.
3. Absolute power, especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly: autocracy, dictatorship, totalitarianism, tyranny. See over/under, politics.

Definition: tyranny
Antonyms: democracy

Autocratic rule by one person. Thus in its original Greek sense a ‘despot’ was the lord or ruler of an unfree state. The Byzantine emperor was routinely referred to as a despot, the title was transferred to Christian rulers in provinces of the Turkish Empire, and remains in modern Greek as an old-fashioned word for a bishop, Thespotis.

Aristotle began an important Western tradition of thought by distinguishing Persian ‘despotism’ from Greek tyranny. Tyranny was usurped, unstable power, wielded coercively, while despotism was persistent and stable, depending on the acquiescence of the people, often the only authority they knew and therefore essentially legal. It was thus an oriental phenomenon because free, Greek peoples would not tolerate it for long. The category of oriental despotism is almost universal in Western political thought. Most notably, Montesquieu developed the category in his L'Esprit des lois, published in 1748. Even the most absolute of Western monarchies was not a despotism, he argued, because the monarch was bound by law whose legitimacy was justified by the same reasoning as was his authority. He did, though, note a tendency for the French monarchy to degenerate towards despotism, as did several of his contemporaries, and after the revolution of 1789 it became customary to refer to the ancien régime as a despotism.

Western theorists have used despotism as a limiting case, a reductio ad absurdum of the concentration of power. To Burke it was ‘the simplest form of government’, the domination of the will of a single man. To Bentham it was an evil form, the inverse of the evil of anarchy. Their shared assumptions about the actual working of the Ottoman, Chinese, Persian, and Moghul Empires can be said to be oversimplified where not actually wrong, and the use of the term has degenerated into a mere political boo-word, not really distinguishable from ‘tyranny’, ‘dictatorship’, or ‘absolutism’.

— Lincoln Allison

Unlimited political rule by one person.

Quotes:

"Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things." - Oscar Wilde

"There are three kinds of despots. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the body. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul. There is the despot who tyrannizes over the soul and body alike. The first is called the Prince. The second is called the Pope. The third is called the People." - Oscar Wilde

"The real stumbling-block of totalitarian r?gimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth." - Simone Weil

"Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man." - Joseph De Maistre

"Despots play their part in the works of thinkers. Fettered words are terrible words. The writer doubles and trebles the power of his writing when a ruler imposes silence on the people. Something emerges from that enforced silence, a mysterious fullness which filters through and becomes steely in the thought. Repression in history leads to conciseness in the historian, and the rocklike hardness of much celebrated prose is due to the tempering of the tyrant." - Victor Hugo

"The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid." - Denis Diderot

See more famous quotes about Despotism

• Forms, Systems, and Philosophies - despotism: system of government in which ruler exercises absolute power

Part of the Politics series
Basic forms of government
Power structure
Confederal Federal Unitary
Power source
Aristocratic Popular Monarchy Oligarchy Constitutional Constitutional monarchy Technocracy Feudalism Plutocracy Democratic Direct Consensus Representative Theocratic Canonical Ecclesiastical Divine right Other Despotism Autocracy Totalitarianism Military Junta Military dictatorship Stratocracy Kritarchy
Legislative system
Authoritarian regime Republic Parliamentary Presidential
List of forms of government
Politics portal
v t e

Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an autocracy, or it may be a group,^[1] as in an oligarchy. The word despotism means to "rule in the fashion of a despot" and does not necessarily require a singular "despot", an individual.

Despot comes from the Greek despotes, which roughly means "master" or "one with power", and it has been used to translate a wide variety of titles and positions. It was used to describe the unlimited power and authority of the Pharaohs of Egypt, employed in the Byzantine court as a title of nobility, used by the rulers of Byzantine vassal states, and adopted as a title of the Byzantine Emperors. Thus, despot is found to have different meanings and interpretations at various times in history and can not be described by a single definition. This is similar to the other Greek titles basileus and autokrator, which, along with despot, have been used at various times to describe everything from a local chieftain to a simple ruler, king or emperor.

Colloquially, despot has been applied pejoratively to a person, particularly a head of state or government, who abuses his power and authority to oppress his people, subjects or subordinates. In this sense, it is similar to the perjorative connotations that have likewise arisen with the term tyrant. Dictator has also developed nearly similar perjorative connotations, though despot and tyrant tend to stress cruelty and even enjoyment therefrom, while dictator tends to imply more harshness or unfair implementation of law.

Contents 1 History 2 Contrast with monarchy 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

History

In its classical form, despotism is a state where a single individual (the despot) wields all the power and authority embodying the state, and everyone else is a subsidiary person. This form of despotism was common in the first forms of statehood and civilization; the Pharaoh of Egypt is exemplary of the classical despot.

The term now implies tyrannical rule. Despotism can mean tyranny (dominance through threat of punishment and violence), or absolutism; or dictatorship (a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator, not restricted by a constitution, laws or opposition, etc.).^[2]

The court of N'Gangue M'voumbe Niambi, from the book Description of Africa (1668)

However, in enlightened absolutism (also known as benevolent despotism), which came to prominence in 18th century Europe, absolute monarchs used their authority to institute a number of reforms in the political systems and societies of their countries. This movement was quite probably triggered by the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu believed that despotism was an appropriate government for large states. Likewise, he believed that republics were suitable for small states and that monarchies were ideal for moderate-sized states.^[3]

Although the word has a pejorative meaning nowadays, it was once a legitimate title of office in the Byzantine Empire. Just as the word Byzantine is often used in a pejorative way, so the word despot now has equally negative connotations. In fact, Despot was an Imperial title, first used under Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180) who created it for his appointed heir Alexius-Béla. According to Gyula Moravcsik, this title was a simple translation of Béla's Hungarian title úr, but other historians believe it comes from the ancient Greek despotes (literally, the master). In the Orthodox Liturgy, if celebrated in Greek, the priest is addressed by the deacon as Despot even today.

It was typically bestowed on sons-in-law and later sons of the Emperor and, beginning in the 13th century, it was bestowed to foreign princes. The Despot wore elaborate costumes similar to the Emperor's and had many privileges. Despots ruled over parts of the empire called Despotates.

In the United States Declaration of Independence, the British government is cited to have been reducing the American people under absolute despotism: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security".

Contrast with monarchy

According to Montesquieu, the difference between monarchy and despotism is that in monarchy, a single person governs by fixed and established laws, whereas a despot governs by her or his own will and caprice.^[4]

See also

• Dictatorship
• Enlightened despot
• Oligarchy
• Monarchy
• Tyranny

References

1. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica
2. ^ WordNet Search - 3.0
3. ^ World History, Spielvogel J. Jackson. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 8787 Orion Place, Columbus, OH. p. 520
4. ^ Montesquieu, "The Spirit of Laws", Book II, 1.

External links

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: despotism

v t e Authoritarian forms of government Authoritarian Absolute monarchy Enlightened absolutism Military Military dictatorship Military junta Totalitarian Fascism Nazism Communist State Dictatorship of the Proletariat Theocracy Related Concepts Illiberal democracy Inverted totalitarianism Totalitarian democracy Despotism Dictatorship Benevolent dictatorship Tyranny Oligarchy Single-party state Police state Counterintelligence state Third Positionism

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - despotisme, despoti, tyranni

Nederlands (Dutch)
despotisme (tirannie)

Français (French)
n. - despotisme

Deutsch (German)
n. - Despotie, Despotismus, Willkürherrschaft

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δεσποτισμός, τυραννικότητα

Italiano (Italian)
dispotismo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - despotismo (m)

Русский (Russian)
деспотизм

Español (Spanish)
n. - despotismo, tiranía, autocracia, país gobernado por un déspota

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - despotism

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
独裁, 专制政治, 专制

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 獨裁, 專制政治, 專制

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 전제 정치, 전제 정부, 독재 정치

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 専制, 暴政, 専制君主国, 圧制, 専制政治, 横暴, 独裁

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الحكم المطلق, الحكم الاستبدادي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עריצות, רודנות‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.