Absolute monarchy

Absolute monarchy^[1]^[2] is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority.^[3]

The absolutist system of government saw its high point in Europe during the 16th and 17th century, associated with a form of rule unconstrained by the former checks of feudalism, embodied by figures such as Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King". Attempting to establish an absolutist government along continental lines, Charles I of England viewed Parliament as unnecessary, which would ultimately lead to the English Civil War (1642–51) and his execution. Absolutism declined substantially, first following the French Revolution, and later after World War I, both of which led to the popularization of modes of government based on the notion of popular sovereignty. Nonetheless, it provided an ideological foundation for the newer political theories and movements that emerged to oppose liberal democracy, such as Legitimism and Carlism in the early 19th century, or "integral nationalism" in the early 20th century.

Absolute monarchies include Brunei, Eswatini,^[4] Oman,^[5] Saudi Arabia,^[6] Vatican City,^[7] and the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, which itself is a federation of such monarchies – a federal monarchy.^[8]^[9] Though absolute monarchies are sometimes supported by legal documents, they are distinct from constitutional monarchies, in which the authority of the monarch is restricted (e.g. by legislature or unwritten customs) or balanced by that of other officials, such as a prime minister, as is in the case of the United Kingdom, or the Nordic countries.^[3]

. (1961, 1974). Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso.

Anderson, Perry

Beloff, Max. The Age of Absolutism 1660–1815.

et al. (1970). The European World, vol 1, pp 267–466.

Blum, Jerome

et al. (1951). Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Blum, Jerome

Kimmel, Michael S. (1988). Absolutism and Its Discontents: State and society in seventeenth-century France and England. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.

Méttam, Roger. (1988). Power and Faction in Louis XIV's France. New York: Blackwell Publishers.

Miller, John (ed.) (1990). Absolutism in Seventeenth-Century Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wilson, Peter H. (2000). Absolutism in Central Europe. New York: Routledge.

Zmohra, Hillay. (2001). Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe – 1300–1800. New York: Routledge.