Absolutism is the theory or practice of absolute government. Government is ‘absolute’ in the sense that it possesses unfettered power: government cannot be constrained by a body external to itself. Absolute government is usually associated with the political forms that dominated Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, its most prominent manifestation being the absolute monarchy. However, there is no necessary connection between monarchy and absolute government. Although unfettered power can be placed in the hands of the monarch, it can also be vested in a collective body such as a supreme legislature. Absolutism, nevertheless, differs from modern versions of dictatorship, notably totalitarianism. Whereas absolutist regimes aspired to a monopoly of political power, usually achieved by excluding the masses from politics, totalitarianism involves the establishment of ‘total power’ through the politicization of every aspect of social and personal existence. Absolutist theory thus differs significantly from, for instance, fascist doctrines.

Absolute government and absolute power are not the same thing, however. The absolutist principle resides in the claim to an unlimited right to rule, rather than in the exercise of unchallengeable power. This why absolutist theories are closely linked to the concept of sovereignty, representing an unchallengeable and indivisible source of legal authority. There are both rationalist and theological versions of absolutist theory. Rationalist theories of absolutism generally advance the belief that only absolute government can guarantee order and social stability. Divided sovereignty or challengeable power is therefore a recipe for chaos and disorder. Theological theories of absolutism are based upon the doctrine of divine right, according to which the absolute control a monarch exercises over his subjects derives from, and is analogous to, the power of God over his creation. Monarchical power is therefore unchallengeable because it is the temporal expression of God’s authority.

Absolutist theories have the virtue that they articulate some enduring political truths. In particular, they emphasize the central importance to politics of order, and remind us that primary objective of political society is to maintain stability and security. Absolutist theories can nevertheless be criticized as being both politically redundant and ideologically objectionable. Absolutist government collapsed in the face of the advance of constitu-tionalism and representation, and where dictatorship has survived it has assumed a quite different political character. Indeed, by the time that the term absolutism was coined in the nineteenth century, the phenomenon itself had largely disappeared. The objectionable feature of absolutism is that it is now widely seen as merely a cloak for tyranny and arbitrary government. Modern political thought, linked to ideas such as individual rights and democratic accountability, is largely an attempt to protect against the dangers of absolutism.

Jean Bodin (1530–96) A French political philosopher, Bodin was the first important theorist of sovereignty, which he defined as ‘the absolute and perpetual power of a commonwealth’. In his view, the only guarantee of political and social stability is the existence of a sovereign with final lawmaking power; in that sense, law reflects the ‘will’ of the sovereign. Although the sovereign is above the law, in that he cannot be bound by an expression of its will, Bodin recognized the limitation imposed by natural law and what he termed ‘fundamental laws’, and so did not take sovereignty to imply arbitrary power. Bodin’s most important work is The Six Books of the Commonweal ([1576] 1962).

Thomas Hobbes : Hobbes followed Bodin in seeing the maintenance of order as the primary goal of politics, and in accepting that this can be achieved only by the establishment of an absolute sovereign. However, his strictly rationalist account of absolutism, advanced in the form of social contract theory, did not rely upon conventional notions of natural law and allowed the sovereign’s actions to be arbitrary as well as absolute.

Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) A French aristocrat and political thinker, Maistre was a fierce critic of the French Revolution and a supporter of hereditary monarchy. His political philosophy was based upon willing and complete subordination to ‘the master’. Maistre believed that society is organic, and would fragment or collapse if it were not bound together by the twin principles of ‘throne and altar’. In his view, earthly monarchies are ultimately subject to the supreme spiritual power of the Pope. Maistre’s chief political works include Conside´rations sur la France (1796) and Du Pape (1817).

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