ABSOLUTISM. A term used in political science to denote that system of government wherein the supreme power is vested in a single authority — individual or collective unchecked by any constitution or laws. Since absolute power may be exercised under a mon archy, an aristocracy or even a democracy, the term, strictly speaking, does not apply to any particular form of government, though it is, usually employed in describing monarchies, as they furnish the most numerous examples of absolutism. United sovereignty is an essential condition of absolutism, since the distribution of the functions of government places that government under restraints. Absolutism char acterized all ancient monarchies and has pre vailed in all Oriental monarchies, down to Japan of a few years ago. When the barbar ians overran western Europe feudalism replaced the absolute monarchy, but the growth of towns and the rise of commercial classes made neces sary a strongly centralized government to pro tect the nation against the feudalistic lords, and the absolute monarch again came into power, uniting in himself the various functions of national life, both political and religious. The Tudors and Stuarts in England, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Louis XIV of France, with his famous assertion "L'etat c'est moix) ("I am the are examples of absolute monarchs, though their absolutism was mainly limited to the central government. There are no absolute monarchies in Europe and since 1908, when the government of Turkey was over thrown and a constitution adopted later, the term has not been applicable even to the Otto man Empire.
The most common method of checking abso lutism is to separate the governmental functions. The legislative functions in most states of western Europe and England are exercised by two chambers; in the United States the national and state governments share the powers of sovereignty itself, while in each of these govern ments the authority is again divided among the legislative, executive and judicial departments. The written constitution or fundamental law made by the people or their representatives is another method of preventing absolutism, since the fundamental purpose of a written consti tution is not only to lay down a general plan of government but also to regulate the powers and conduct of those who govern. From the standpoint of the citizen or subject no govern ment, whatever its nature or form, can hold absolute sway in the multitudinous ramifications of human activity, since, being political in char acter, absolutism is subject to the limitations of human nature and is limited by local govern ment, and, in some countries, by common law ; by international law which restrains sovereign states from acts prejudicial to the interests or injurious to the coexistence of the various states; and by the church, the religious author it% of which is usually independent of the state. See MONARCHY; FEUDAL SYSTEM; DESPOT). onsult Brougham, H. P., 'Political Philosophy' (1842-46) ; Baldwin, S. E., (Modern Political Institutions> (1898) ; Lieber, F., 'Civil Liberty' (3d ed., 1891).