What is an absolute monarchy?
An absolute monarchy is a form of government in which the monarch holds governing power with no constitutional or legislative body able to limit or override it.
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Core tenets
- Unchecked authority
- The monarch's decisions are not subject to review or override by an elected legislature or independent judiciary.
- Law as the monarch's will
- Legal authority typically flows directly from the monarch, rather than from a constitution the monarch is themselves bound by.
- Hereditary succession
- As with monarchy generally, the position passes by inheritance rather than election.
How it works in practice
In practice, even absolute monarchs have historically relied on nobles, clergy, or officials to actually administer the realm, even without formal power-sharing.
- Royal decree
- The monarch can issue binding law directly, without requiring approval from a separate legislative body.
- Court and advisors
- Ministers and advisors serve at the monarch's pleasure, holding influence but no independent constitutional authority of their own.
Common variants
- Theocratic absolute monarchy
- The monarch's authority is also framed as religious, claiming divine sanction alongside political power.
- Secular absolute monarchy
- The monarch's authority rests on hereditary and political claims without an explicit religious framing.
What it is often confused with
Absolute monarchy is often confused with monarchy generally, but most monarchies operating today are constitutional, not absolute.
Criticisms and debates
Criticism of absolute monarchy centers on the absence of any institutional check on the ruler's power.
Constitutionalist critique
Argues that concentrating unchecked authority in one hereditary ruler removes any reliable mechanism for correcting misrule or succession crises.
Response: Historical defenders of absolute monarchy argued that a single unified authority prevented the factional conflict associated with divided power, though this defense is rare in contemporary political thought.
Enlightenment critique
Philosophers such as Locke argued that legitimate government requires the consent of the governed, which hereditary absolute rule does not provide.
Response: Some historical defenders framed absolute monarchy as resting on divine right rather than popular consent, a justification largely rejected in later political philosophy.
Historical examples
- France under Louis XIV, 1643 to 1715
- Often cited as a defining example of absolute monarchy, summarized in the phrase attributed to him equating the state with his own person.
- Russia under the Tsars, before 1917
- The Russian Empire maintained an absolute monarchy until the 1917 revolutions ended Tsarist rule.
Sources
- 1.Bossuet, Jacques-Benigne. Politics Drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture. 1709.
- 2.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Political Legitimacy.
- 3.Encyclopaedia Britannica. Absolute monarchy.