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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]

Absolutism

Manuel Brunner

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]
Article last updated:
April 2019

From: Oxford Constitutions (http://oxcon.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 10 October 2024

Subject(s):
Absolutism — Authoritarianism — Illiberal regimes — Monarchy — Totalitarianism

General Editors: Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann, Rüdiger Wolfrum
Managing Editor: Martina Mantovani

1 Absolutism, also known as absolute monarchy or despotic monarchy, is a form of government in which the unlimited, undivided, and uncontrolled authority is conceded to a ruler (monarch) who is not bound by law and is not obliged to let other organs participate in governmental affairs (forms of government). 2 The term ‘absolutism’ is usually used for European monarchies from the reign of King Philip II of Spain (1556–98) onwards, while the time between the Peace of Westphalia concluded in 1648 (Westphalian System) and the French Revolution of 1789 is often...
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