| | 1 | Author: | unknown | Add | | | Title: | Dictionary of the History of Ideas  | | | | Published: | 2008 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | The concept of despotism is perhaps the least known
of that family which includes tyranny, autocracy,
absolutism, dictatorship (in its modern usage), and
totalitarianism. Although nearly contemporary with
“tyranny,” the concept of despotism has not been as
significant in the history of political thought. Never-
theless at some times, and in the work of some of the
greatest political philosophers, the concept of des-
potism has been sharply distinguished from other
members of its family, and has attained an unusual
prominence, as when Montesquieu made it into one
of the three fundamental types of government. It was
in the eighteenth century, and particularly in France,
that despotism supplanted tyranny as the term most
often used to characterize a system of total domination,
as distinguished from the exceptional abuse of power
by a ruler. The temporary success of the term led to
its conflation with tyranny, as in the Declaration of
Independence where in successive sentences, “absolute
Despotism” and “absolute Tyranny” are used as syno-
nyms. In 1835 Tocqueville expressed the opinion that
after the French Revolution, modern politics and soci-
ety had taken on a character that rendered both con-
cepts inadequate. Today their usage suggests archaism:
controversies over twentieth-century forms of total
domination have centered on the concepts of dictator-
ship and totalitarianism. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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