Autocracy

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Related to Political absolutism: Absolutists

Autocracy

A government system in which one person has complete and total power. While autocracy does not exist in practice, dictatorships often concentrate power in only a few persons.

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Autocrat

References in periodicals archive ?

Political absolutism was exchanged for division of powers; a unique state religion for freedom of creeds; mercantilism for support of private property and free trade; xenophobia for the encouragement of immigration; disregard of the law for judicial principles; and social class differences for equality before the law.

Historical reflections on the splendor and decline of Argentina

Second, there existed within the Duma no sufficiently cohesive, powerful bloc that shared Stolypin's commitment to both social reform and political absolutism. Third, most of "politically influential society," including the imperial court, officialdom, church leaders, and the nobility, opposed Stolypin's reform projects.

Between Two Revolutions: Stolypin and the Politics of Renewal in Russia

Drawn rigidly to the template of religious and political absolutism, however, this burgeoning of musical culture bespoke a constant condition of imperial servitude.

Cross, Sword, and Lyre: Sacred Music at the Imperial Court of Ferdinand II of Habsburg: 1619-1637

Hobbes emphasized the radical nature of prepolitical disorder in order to justify political absolutism. Harris also views constitutions as hedges against primal chaos and "the nothingness of disorder and darkness".

The Interpretable Constitution

In equating the quest for correct interpretation with political absolutism, he flattens all distinctions between contending political stances.