Concept

Absolute monarchy

Overview

Absolute monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority. Throughout history, there have been many examples of absolute monarchs, with some famous examples including Louis XIV and Frederick the Great.

The number of absolute monarchies in the world varies but most datasets agree that Brunei, Eswatini, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are absolute monarchies, while others include Bahrain, Bhutan, Jordan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Morocco, Tonga, Vatican City and the United Arab Emirates.

Though absolute monarchies are sometimes supported by legal documents (such as the King's Law of Denmark–Norway), they are distinct from constitutional monarchies, in which the authority of the monarch is restricted (e.g. by legislature or unwritten customs) or balanced by that of other officials, such as a prime minister, as is in the case of the United Kingdom, or the Nordic countries.

Absolute monarchies are distinct from hereditary dictatorships such as North Korea, Duvalier Haiti or Ba'athist Syria.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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Sect. 92. For he that thinks absolute power purifies men’s blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read but the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced of the contrary. He that would have been insolent and injurious in the woods of America, would not probably be much better in a throne; where perhaps learning and religion shall be found out to justify all that he shall do to his…
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
States what Absolute monarchy is; the author is tied to Absolute monarchy in the knowledge graph.
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And further, though in the election of a king for his life, the people grant him the exercise of their sovereignty for that time; yet if they see cause, they may recall the same before the time. As a prince that conferreth an office for life, may nevertheless, upon suspicion of abuse thereof, recall it at his pleasure; inasmuch as offices that require labour and care, are understood to pass from him that giveth…
Thomas Hobbes, The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 04
States what Absolute monarchy is; the author is tied to Absolute monarchy in the knowledge graph.
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The Executive power, with its tremendous bureaucratic and military organization; with its wide-spreading and artificial machinery of government—an army of office-holders, half a million strong, together with a military force of another million men—; this fearful body of parasites, that coils itself like a snake around French society, stopping all its pores, originated at the time of the absolute monarchy, along with…
Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
The author is tied to Absolute monarchy in the knowledge graph; names Absolute monarchy twice.
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Absolute monarchy

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