despotism

Examples of despotism in the following topics:

• Enlightened Despotism

  • Enlightened despots, inspired by the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern in lieu of any other governments.
  • Enlightened despots held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern in lieu of any other governments.
  • The difference between a despot and an enlightened despot is based on a broad analysis of the degree to which they embraced the Age of Enlightenment.
  • However, historians debate the actual implementation of enlightened despotism.
  • Enlightened despotism is the theme of an essay by Frederick the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, defending this system of government.

• Baron de Montesquieu

  • Montesquieu defines three main political systems: republican, monarchical, and despotic.
  • The distinction between monarchy and despotism hinges on whether or not a fixed set of laws exists that can restrain the authority of the ruler.
  • If not, it counts as despotism.
  • Political liberty is not possible in a despotic political system, but it is possible, though not guaranteed, in republics and monarchies.
  • He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon.

• Catherine's Domestic Policies

  • Catherine the Great enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot, although her reforms benefited a small number of her subjects and did not change the oppressive system of Russian serfdom.
  • She enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot.
  • This philosophy of enlightened despotism implied that the sovereign knew the interests of his or her subjects better than they themselves did.
  • Evaluate Catherine the Great's domestic policies and to what extent she can be considered an enlightened despot

• Blue Water Imperialism

  • British liberals considered this framework of blue water empire to be anti-despotic—the government sought trade markets abroad in order to extend imperial influence commercially, without arbitrary territorial expansion.
  • Furthermore, Catholicism was the traditional state religion of Spain and France—nations that, according to British liberals, were traditionally ruled by authoritarian, despotic, monarchical power.
  • British Protestants thus claimed that Catholicism tended to lead to political despotism.
  • British liberals viewed representative government as a hallmark of Protestantism because it counteracted the despotic, authoritarian, and "Catholic" tendencies of monarchy and arbitrary power.
  • Broadly, the "language of liberty" includes widespread political participation, the duty of the citizen to safeguard against arbitrary despotism, and the right of citizens to life and liberty.

• Judicial Activism and Restraint

  • The phrase is generally traced back to a comment by Thomas Jefferson, referring to the despotic behavior of Federalist federal judges, in particular, John Marshall.

• Confederate Politics

  • The first conscription act in North America authorizing Davis to draft soldiers was viewed as the, "essence of military despotism."

• State Formation

  • Modern archaeological and anthropological evidence shows that many early societies were not as centralized, despotic, or unequal as the hydraulic theory would suggest.
  • In hydraulic civilizations, control over water concentrated power in central despotic states.

• American Republicanism

  • The belief that it was the duty of virtuous citizens to resist political despotism and corruption came to fruition during the American Revolution.
  • Parliament and George III were viewed as corrupt, despotic tyrants that were systematically destroying the fundamental liberties of their colonial subjects.

• The Anti-Federalists

  • The Anti-Federalists were composed of diverse elements, including those opposed to the Constitution because they thought that a stronger government threatened the sovereignty and prestige of the states, localities, or individuals; those who claimed that a new centralized power would only replace the cast-off despotism of Great Britain, and those who simply feared that the new government threatened their personal liberties.
  • While individualism and state autonomy were the strong elements of opposition, all anti-federalists also argued for the necessity of a bill of rights to protect individual liberties from federal despotism.

• River Valley Civilizations

  • A hydraulic empire (also known as hydraulic despotism, or water monopoly empire) is a social or governmental structure which maintains power through exclusive control over water access.
  • Karl August Wittfogel, the German scholar who first developed the notion of the hydraulic empire, argued in his book, Oriental Despotism (1957), that strong government control characterized these civilizations because a particular resource (in this case, river water) was both a central part of economic processes and environmentally limited.