Despotism

This does not cite its .
You can Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations.

Forms of government
This series is part of the Politics series
List of forms of government Aristocracy Autocracy Democracy Despotism Dictatorship Monarchy Absolute monarchy Constitutional monarchy Oligarchy Single-party state Theocracy Tyranny
· [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit]

Despotism is a form of government by a single authority, either an individual (ie. autocracy) or tightly knit group (ie. oligarchy), which rules with absolute political power. On its classical form, a despotism is a state where one single man wields all the power and authority, and everyone else is considered as his slave. This form of despotism was the first known form of statehood and civilization; the Pharaoh of Egypt is a hallmark of a classical despot. Some Islāmic Third World countries can even today be considered as classical despoties.

The term now implies tyrannical rule. However, under the concept of benevolent or enlightened 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 probably largely triggered by the ideals of the Enlightenment.

Even though the word has modern pejorative meaning, it was once a legitimate title of office in the Byzantine Empire. Just as the word "Byzantine" is often used in a pejorative way (for specific reasons by certain Enlightenment authors wishing to express disapproval of that period in history), the word Despot was equally turned around for negative meaning. In fact, a Despot was an Imperial title, first used under Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) who created it to 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 old Roman title 'dominus'.

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 an elaborate costume similar to the Emperor's and had many privileges. Despots ruled over parts of the empire called Despotates. In the Orthodox Liturgy, if celebrated in Greek, the priest is addressed by the deacon as "despot" even today.

External links

[Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] despotism
[Archive.org - Despotism Video - 1946]

Despotism also has meaning in an ecological context. Despotism is a social system in Animals with one individual dominating the rest of the flock, which are all equally subserviant to him and of equal rank with each other.

Despotism

External links

See also