Product Code Database
In political science, despotism () is a government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot (as in an autocracy), but societies which limit respect and power to specific groups have also been called despotic.
Colloquially, the word despot applies to those who use their power and authority arbitrarily to oppress their populace or subordinates. More specifically, the term often applies to a head of state or government. In this sense, it is similar to the pejorative connotations that are associated with the terms tyrant and dictator.
Despot has also been a royal title assumed by various leaders historically.
Edward Gibbon suggested that the increasing use of Oriental-style despotism by the Roman emperors was a major factor in the fall of the Roman Empire, particularly from the reign of Elagabalus:
As the attention of the new emperor was diverted by the most trifling amusements, he wasted many months in his luxurious progress from Syria to Italy, passed at Nicomedia his first winter after his victory, and deferred till the ensuing summer his triumphal entry into the capital. A faithful picture, however, which preceded his arrival, and was placed by his immediate order over the altar of Victory in the senate-house, conveyed to the Romans the just but unworthy resemblance of his person and manners. He was drawn in his sacerdotal robes of silk and gold, after the loose flowing fashion of the Medes and Phoenicians; his head was covered with a lofty tiara, his numerous collars and bracelets were adorned with gems of an inestimable value. His eyebrows were tinged with black, and his cheeks painted with an artificial red and white. The grave senators confessed with a sigh, that, after having long experienced the stern tyranny of their own countrymen, Rome was at length humbled beneath the effeminate luxury of Oriental despotism. ( The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Book One, Chapter Six)
Yet although the word has a pejorative meaning nowadays, it was once a legitimate title of office in the Byzantine Empire, first used under Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180) who awarded the title to his appointed heir Alexius-Béla. 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. Despots ruled over parts of the empire called Despotates.
The modern term seems to have been coined by the opponents of Louis XIV of France in the 1690s, who applied the term despotisme to describe their monarch's somewhat free exercise of power, but the Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu believed that while were suitable for small states and monarchies were ideal for moderate-sized states, despotism was an appropriate government for large states. World History, Spielvogel J. Jackson. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Columbus, OH. p. 520 In enlightened absolutism (also known as benevolent despotism), which came to prominence in 18th century Europe, absolute monarchy used their authority to institute a number of reforms in the and society of their countries.
At the same time, the term was used to imply Tyrant rule. The United States Declaration of Independence accused King George III of "a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evincing a design to reduce the under absolute Despotism". Nowadays, "despotism" can refer to any absolutist or dictatorial regime or leader that uses their power in a cruel manner.
|
|
