An Autocratic Ruler Has Power

Form of government

Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a country is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are bailiwick neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of pop command (except possibly for the implicit threat of a insurrection d'état or other forms of rebellion).^[i]

In earlier times, the term autocrat was coined as a favorable description of a ruler, having some connectedness to the concept of "lack of conflicts of interests" as well as an indication of grandeur and ability. This apply of the term continued into modern times, as the Russian Emperor was styled "Autocrat of all the Russias" as tardily equally the early 20th century. In the 19th century, Eastern and Cardinal Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse peoples.

History and etymology [edit]

Autocracy comes from the Aboriginal Greek autos (Greek: αὐτός; "self") and kratos (Greek: κράτος; "power", "force") from Kratos, the Greek personification of authority. In Medieval Greek, the term Autocrates was used for anyone belongings the championship emperor, regardless of the actual power of the monarch. The term was used in Ancient Greece and Rome with varying meanings. In the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Emperor was styled Despot of the Romans. Some historical Slavic monarchs such as Russian tsars and emperors, due to Byzantine influence, included the championship Autocrat as part of their official styles, distinguishing them from the constitutional monarchs elsewhere in Europe.

Comparison with other forms of regime [edit]

Both totalitarian and military dictatorship are often identified with, merely demand not exist, an autocracy. Totalitarianism is a system where the state strives to control every aspect of life and civil society.^[2] Information technology can be headed by a supreme leader, making information technology autocratic, but it tin also have a collective leadership such equally a presidium, military junta, or a single political political party every bit in the case of a one-party land.

Origin and developments [edit]

Examples from early on modernistic Europe suggests early statehood was favorable for republic.^[3] According to Jacob Hariri, outside Europe, history shows that early statehood has led to autocracy.^[4] The reasons he gives are continuation of the original autocratic dominion and absence of "institutional transplantation" or European settlement.^[4] This may be because of the country's capacity to fight colonization, or the presence of land infrastructure that Europeans did not need for the creation of new institutions to rule. In all the cases, representative institutions were unable to get introduced in these countries and they sustained their autocratic rule. European colonization was varied and conditional on many factors. Countries which were rich in natural resource had an extractive^[?] and indirect rule whereas other colonies saw European settlement.^[5] Because of this settlement, these countries possibly experienced setting up of new institutions. Colonization likewise depended on factor endowments and settler mortality.^[iv]

Mancur Olson theorizes the development of autocracies as the first transition from chaos to state. For Olson, chaos is characterized by a number of "roving bandits" who travel effectually many unlike geographic areas extorting wealth from local populations leaving little incentive for populations to invest and produce. As local populations lose the incentive to produce, there is niggling wealth for either the bandits to steal or the people to use. Olson theorizes autocrats as "stationary bandits" who solve this dilemma past establishing control over a pocket-sized fiefdom and monopolize the extortion of wealth in the fiefdom in the form of taxes. Once an autocracy is developed, Olson theorizes that both the despot and the local population will exist better off as the autocrat volition take an "encompassing involvement" in the maintenance and growth of wealth in the fiefdom. Because violence threatens the creation of rents, the "stationary bandit" has incentives to monopolize violence and to create a peaceful guild.^[6] Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard and G.T. Svendsen accept argued that the Viking expansion and settlements in the ninth-11th centuries may be interpreted as an instance of roving bandits becoming stationary.^[seven]

Douglass North, John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast describe autocracies as limited admission orders that arise from this need to monopolize violence. In contrast to Olson, these scholars understand the early state not as a single ruler, simply as an system formed by many actors. They describe the process of autocratic state formation as a bargaining process amongst individuals with access to violence. For them, these individuals grade a dominant coalition that grants each other privileges such equally the access to resources. As violence reduces the rents, members of the dominant coalition take incentives to cooperate and to avert fighting. A express access to privileges is necessary to avoid competition amongst the members of the dominant coalition, who then will credibly commit to cooperate and volition form the state.^[eight]

Maintenance [edit]

Because autocrats demand a power structure to rule, information technology can exist difficult to draw a clear line between historical autocracies and oligarchies. Most historical autocrats depended on their nobles, their merchants, the military, the priesthood, or other elite groups.^[9] Some autocracies are rationalized by assertion of divine correct; historically this has mainly been reserved for medieval kingdoms. In contempo years researchers have found meaning connections between the types of rules governing succession in monarchies and autocracies and the frequency with which coups or succession crises occur.^[10]

According to Douglass North, John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast, in limited admission orders the state is ruled by a dominant coalition formed by a small elite group that relates to each other by personal relationships. To remain in power, this elite hinders people exterior the dominant coalition to admission organizations and resources. Autocracy is maintained as long equally the personal relationships of the elite proceed to forge the dominant coalition. These scholars further suggest that in one case the dominant coalition starts to go broader and allow for impersonal relationships, express access orders tin can give place to open admission orders.^[viii]

For Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, the resource allotment of political power explains the maintenance of autocracies which they commonly refer to as "extractive states".^[11] For them, the de jure political ability comes from political institutions, whereas the de facto political power is determined by the distribution of resources. Those holding the political power in the present will design the political and economic institutions in the future co-ordinate to their interests. In autocracies, both de jure and de facto political powers are concentrated in 1 person or a small elite that volition promote institutions for keeping the de jure political ability equally concentrated equally the de facto political power, thereby maintaining autocratic regimes with extractive institutions.

Autocracy promotion [edit]

It has been argued that authoritarian regimes such equally China and Russia and totalitarian states such equally North Korea accept attempted to export their system of government to other countries through "autocracy promotion".^[12] A number of scholars are skeptical that China and Russian federation have successfully exported authoritarianism away.^[thirteen] ^[14] ^[15] ^[xvi]

Historical examples [edit]

The Roman Empire, which Augustus founded following the finish of the Roman Republic in 27 BC. Augustus officially kept the Roman Senate while effectively consolidating all of the real power in himself. Rome was generally peaceful and prosperous until the purple rule of Commodus starting in 180 AD. The crunch of the Tertiary Century saw the barbaric invasions and insurrections past prominent generals every bit well every bit economical decline. Both Diocletian and Constantine the Not bad ruled as autocratic leaders, strengthening the control of the emperor in a phase known every bit Dominate. The empire was extremely big, difficult to govern by a single emperor, and was ruled by a tetrarchy, instituted by Diocletian. Eventually, it was split into ii halves, namely the Western and the Eastern. The Western Roman Empire vicious in 476 afterwards borough unrest, further economic reject and invasions led to the surrender of Romulus Augustus to Odoacer, a Germanic rex.^[17] On the other hand, the Eastern Roman Empire survived until 1453, with the Autumn of Constantinople. Its rulers' master titles in Greek were Autokrator and Basileus.
The Eastern Han dynasty of China under Dong Zhuo.^[xviii]
Tsarist and Imperial Russia under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Before long after being crowned every bit ruler, Ivan Iv immediately removed his political enemies past execution or exile and established authorisation over the Russian empire, expanding the borders of his kingdom dramatically. To enforce his rule, Ivan established the Streltzy as Russian federation'due south continuing army and adult two cavalry divisions that were fiercely loyal to the Tsar. He likewise established the Cossacks and the Oprichniki. In his later years, Ivan made orders for his forces to sack the city of Novgorod in fear of being overthrown. The ideology Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality was introduced by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and would last until its fall in the Russian Revolution and the rise of Vladimir Lenin.^[19] ^[twenty]
The Tokugawa shogunate, a period of Japanese history which followed a series of conflicts between warring clans, states, and rulers. Tokugawa Ieyasu seized command of all of Japan through a mix of superior tactics and diplomacy, until he became the undisputed shogun (military ruler of Nihon). The shogunate established past Tokugawa and continued by his successors controlled all aspects of life, closing the borders of Japan to all foreign nations and ruling with a policy of isolationism known as sakoku.
Sweden during the reigns of Gustav I (1523–1560), Charles XI and Charles XII (1680–1718), and Gustav III and Gustav IV Adolf (1772–1809).^[21]
Denmark–Kingdom of norway under the House of Oldenburg.
The French republic and the French Empire from 1799 to 1814 nether Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Ottoman Empire from 1878 to 1908 under Abdul Hamid Two.^[22] ^[23]
The Soviet Union during the tenure of Joseph Stalin in addition to other Soviet leaders. The Soviet Union was founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1922 post-obit the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), and several of its leaders have been considered autocratic.^{[ citation needed ]} Political repression occurred in the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991.
Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini'due south rule starting from 1922.
Empire of Japan nether Emperor Hirohito and the Imperial Rule Assist Association.
Nazi Federal republic of germany under Adolf Hitler.
Republic of india under Indira Gandhi, peculiarly during the infamous period of The Emergency (India).^[24] ^[25]
Indonesia nether the Suharto'southward New Guild (1966–1998).
Hellenic republic under the military machine junta of Georgios Papadopoulos (1967–1974).
Paraguay nether the government of Alfredo Stroessner.
The People'due south Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
Republic of cuba nether Fidel Castro.
Iran nether Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Ruhollah Khomeini.
Russia under Vladimir Putin.
Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko.
Hungary under Viktor Orbán.
Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro.
Arab republic of egypt nether Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, and currently Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.^[26] ^[27] ^[28]
Afghanistan is officially an autocracy nether Hibatullah Akhundzada just equally it was under Mullah Omar; the Taliban claims no limits on the powers of the supreme leader.^[29]

References [edit]

^ Johnson, Paul M. "Autocracy: A Glossary of Political Economy Terms". Auburn.edu. Retrieved fourteen September 2012.
^ Hague, Rod; Harrop, Martin; McCormick, John (2016). Comparative government and politics: an introduction (10th ed.). London: Palgrave. ISBN978-1-137-52836-0.
^ Tilly, Charles (1975). Tilly, Charles (ed.). Western-state Making and Theories of Political Transformation. The Formation of National States in Western Europe. Studies in Political Development. Princeton: Princeton University Printing. ISBN0691007721.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hariri, Jacob (2012). "The Autocratic Legacy of Early Statehood" (PDF). American Political Science Review. 106 (three): 471–494. doi:10.1017/S0003055412000238. S2CID 54222556.
^ Acemoglu, Daron; Johnson, Simon; A. Robinson, James. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution".
^ Olson, Mancur (1 Jan 1993). "Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development". The American Political Scientific discipline Review. 87 (3): 567–576. doi:ten.2307/2938736. JSTOR 2938736. S2CID 145312307.
^ Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter & Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard, 2003. "Rational Bandits: Plunder, Public Appurtenances, and the Vikings," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 117(3–4), pages 255–272.
^ ^a ^b North, Douglass C.; Wallis, John Joseph; Weingast, Barry R. (2008). "Violence and the Rising of Open-Access Orders". Journal of Democracy. 20 (1): 55–68. doi:10.1353/jod.0.0060. S2CID 153774943.
^ Tullock, Gordon. "Autocracy", Springer Science+Business, 1987. ISBN 90-247-3398-7.
^ Kurrild-Klitgaard, Peter (2000). "The Constitutional Economic science of Autocratic Succession". Public Choice. 103 (ane): 63–84. doi:x.1023/A:1005078532251. S2CID 154097838.
^ Acemoglu, Daron; Johnson, Simon; Robinson, James A. (2005). Chapter 6 Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth. Handbook of Economical Growth. Vol. one, Role A. pp. 385–472. doi:10.1016/S1574-0684(05)01006-iii. ISBN9780444520418.
^ Kurlantzick, Joshua (30 March 2013). "A New Axis of Autocracy". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
^ Tansey, Oisín (ii January 2016). "The problem with autocracy promotion". Democratization. 23 (i): 141–163. doi:10.1080/13510347.2015.1095736. ISSN 1351-0347. S2CID 146222778.
^ Way, Lucan (27 January 2016). "Weaknesses of Autocracy Promotion". Journal of Commonwealth. 27 (1): 64–75. doi:10.1353/jod.2016.0009. ISSN 1086-3214. S2CID 155187881.
^ Brownlee, Jason (fifteen May 2017). "The limited reach of authoritarian powers". Democratization. 24 (7): 1326–1344. doi:10.1080/13510347.2017.1287175. ISSN 1351-0347. S2CID 149353195.
^ Mode, Lucan A. (2015). "The limits of autocracy promotion: The example of Russia in the 'near abroad'". European Journal of Political Research. 54 (iv): 691–706. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12092.
^ "Password Logon Page". ic.galegroup.com . Retrieved ten Apr 2016. (subscription required)
^ de Crespigny, Rafe (2017). Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23–220 AD. Leiden: Brill. pp. 449–459. ISBN9789004324916.
^ Dizzying World History. "The Russian Revolution". Grade Hero.
^ Moss, Walter G. (July 2003). A History of Russia Book ane: To 1917. ISBN9781843310235.
^ Harrison, Dick (4 May 2019). "Då var Sverige en diktatur – skedde mer än en gång" [When Sweden was a dictatorship – happened more than than one time]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
^ Gottfried Plagemann: Von Allahs Gesetz zur Modernisierung per Gesetz. Gesetz und Gesetzgebung im Osmanischen Reich und der Republik Türkei. Lit Verlag
^ Cf. Jean Deny: 'Abd al-Ḥamīd. In: The Encyclopedia of Islam. New Edition. Vol. two, Brill, Leiden 2002, pp. 64-65.
^ "Indira Gandhi - Bharat's democrat with an authoritarian aptitude | DW | 19.xi.2017". Deutsche Welle.
^ "Indira Gandhi was so much more than than the autocrat who imposed Emergency". 20 Nov 2017.
^ "Revisiting Africa's 20th Century Dictators: Abdel Nasser - Newslibre". newslibre.com. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ Safire, William (12 June 1978). "Sadat: Peacemaker Or Dictator?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ Eltahawy, Mona. "Hosni Mubarak: The Egyptian Autocrat Whose Regime Endures". POLITICO . Retrieved 29 September 2022.
^ Jones, Seth G. (December 2020). "Afghanistan's Future Emirate? The Taliban and the Struggle for Afghanistan". CTC Sentinel. Combating Terrorism Center. 13 (11). Retrieved 2 September 2022. an autocratic political system that eschews commonwealth