Absolutism: main characteristics of this type of political regime

Throughout history, many different ways of governing and running a society have been created. One of them is absolutism.

With this article we will be able to delve into this concept and review what are the most important features that differentiate it from the rest. We will also know some of the historical examples of this way of managing power by the rulers over the citizens.

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What is absolutism?

Absolutism is a type of political regime typical of the time of the Old Regime, that is, of the stage prior to the French Revolution, which brought with it the passage from the Modern Age to the Contemporary Age. Absolutism has the absolute state as a political system, hence its nomenclature.

In other words, for this type of regimen, the monarchs, who at this time were the rulers, are the highest authority for all purposes for the three powers, which are the legislative, the executive and the judicial. Therefore, it will be the king who will make the maximum decisions about what laws to create, how to carry them out and judge those who break them.

We observe, therefore, that there is no separation of powers, since the three forces are concentrated in a single figure, that of the monarch, as supreme ruler. of all its citizens, without being subject to any type of superior law, beyond the divine one that, as Christian countries, was the one that was above the earthly ones.

In fact, the idea that the absolute power wielded by these monarchs is a derivation of the supreme power of God, which gives these people in particular the duty and ability to rule and spread the sacred word. Moving away from Europe, in some Asian countries oriental despotism was practiced, which went one step further, equating the gods themselves by personifying their kings.

One of the phrases that best summarizes the essence of absolutism and its implications was precisely pronounced by Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, and the greatest exponent of the absolute king. After an attempted uprising in a French region, the monarch was in the parliament of Paris.

Some of those present questioned the scope of the king's authority, to which Louis XIV replied: "I am the State." It is true that the veracity of this scene and of the exact words pronounced by the monarch, are questioned according to different historians. But the truth is that it condenses in very few words what absolutism means.

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Differences between absolutism and totalitarianism

Often the error of equating absolutism and totalitarianism improperly, these concepts being different. We have already seen some of the characteristics of the first. As for the second term, it refers to a type of political regime that emerged in the contemporary age, and more specifically at the beginning of the 20th century.

In a totalitarian regime, there is a single political party that monopolizes all spheres of power in the State, and channels it to a single leader. Also, they try impose a certain ideology on all citizens, pretending as the ultimate goal that all of them think in a certain way to achieve the model of society they seek.

They usually have mechanisms such as repression, censorship or political police to achieve these objectives and keep them in power, crushing any hint of dissent or resistance that may arise and that supposes the germ for the potential fall of said regime totalitarian.

However, In absolutism, the figure of the political party does not exist or make sense, a concept that did not exist at the time of absolute monarchies. Nor is there a leader as such, but rather a king who, as we have already said, holds all power. Another important detail is that the absolutist regime does not claim any ideology for its citizens.

On the contrary, what absolutism wants from all subjects is nothing other than mere obedience to the monarch, and the recognition of him as a figure of unquestionable power. Therefore, it does not require mechanisms to modulate the thinking of citizens, but it does require them to recognize real authority and obey it.

Stages of absolutism

Absolutism underwent a transformation, going through a series of stages. Su origin, that is, its initial stage, is between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, that is, to the transition between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, marked by the discovery of America. Throughout this first phase, European monarchs began to gather virtually all spheres of power over their own people.

But at this first level, there were still some limits, especially on the part of religion, since the The Church still held control over many of the countries of Europe in that regard, with the Pope of Rome at the helm. head. After the division between Catholics and Protestants, this influence would be reduced to a smaller number of countries.

The monarchies of Europe, at this time, were undergoing an evolution from feudalism towards authoritarianism. That was the path to the concentration of powers over a few kings that would end up crystallizing in absolutism. With the emergence of nation-states, this transformation became more evident, reaching its maximum splendor.

It would be in the seventeenth century, specifically in the middle of that century, when absolutism reached its most important stage, personifying himself, as we mentioned at the beginning, in King Louis XIV of France, the absolutist monarch par excellence, who illustrated the phenomenon of the person-state.

However, this does not mean that they were totally iron and immutable systems, because during these centuries uprisings were abundant, revolts and even revolutions, in certain areas, which in some countries meant questioning the authority of the monarch absolute.

The most palpable case is that of the French Revolution itself, which meant nothing less than the fall of the absolute monarchy in France, and the seed for the downfall of many other dynasties across Europe in the decades to come.

The frontiers of absolutism

Although it has already become clear that the absolutist monarchs achieved a concentration of power never seen before, it It is true that there were still some limits that represented a frontier to this accumulation of forces in a single person. The first of these limits, as we anticipated, was religion.

All the kings of Europe were of Christian confession, so they were subject, like all other Christians, to the divine laws and to the representatives of God on Earth, as was the case of the dad. Later, after the divisions of the Church, some of these monarchs would cease to be under her command, as they ceased to be Catholics.

Likewise, there were parts of the law, encompassed in natural law, developed in times of the Empire. Romano, which are so essential and universal, that not even the representative of absolutism would be above they. Some of its branches are in private law or the law of nations, among others.

In addition, although the absolute monarch was the very representation of the State, as (in theory) said Louis XIV, the truth is that everything kingdom is sustained on a series of fundamental laws, which may even be mere traditions that are so ingrained to a territory and its society that not even the wishes of the monarch could violate, or it would be a reason for popular revolt if it did.

Within these limits of absolutism would be found, for example, the principle of legitimacy by which the State is a continuum that is above its monarch, even if it is absolute. In that sense, when this person dies or abdicates his heir, all citizens know that there will be a new king and the State will continue to maintain his identity.

Another tradition that would remain above the king is that of the principle of religion. This principle implies that the monarch must always maintain the religious confession that the State itself has. This is a characteristic that occurs both in absolutism and in other types of monarchies.

Regarding the principle of religion, there is a historical fact that perfectly illustrates it, and it is the coronation of King Henry IV of France, which was Protestant but had to adopt the Catholic as a requirement to be the new ruler of said country. He is credited with the famous phrase: "Paris is well worth a mass", although it is true that some historians believe that it is apocryphal.

These would be some of the limits that would occur in absolutism and that therefore would suppose a frontier for the total accumulation of power in the monarchs.