Concept in Definition ABC

The concept that concerns us has a recurring use in the field of politics. The despot it's a sovereign, ruler, authority in force, who governs, exercises his power, without respecting any law. “ The revolt in the town against the despot was important”.

If we make a review of world political history we will find an infinity of cases of despots, even today, some nations have authorities that, despite having been elected democratically and belonging to a democratic and republican system, have characteristics despotic. In populisms this characteristic has been observed a lot in the rulers.

The despot does not accept in any way the opinion of others that do not coincide with his own, he dismisses any kind of political idea that confronts him, and then in response to it he persecutes and subdues them to silence their voices.

The despot not only abuses his authority but also subdues those who are subordinate to him and he does so with extreme harshness, of course.

In this abuse of authority that is implicit and explicit, there is a relationship of forces in inequality conditions, that is, the despot who has on his side all the power and forces to coerce those who do not respond to his will and who obviously They do not have the means or the sufficient conditions to be able to impose themselves, for example, they often end up being persecuted and detained despots.

Some people who suffered this persecution ended up opting for exile.

Person who abuses his authority in any area

Although we must also clarify that the concept is not only limited to use in politics, the term is also frequently used in ordinary language to designate an individual who abuses his authority or his power in any area or context, for example a boss against his employees, a father against his children, among other options.
“My boss is a despot, this year he told us that we will not have vacations”. "María's father is a despot, he has not let any of his children choose their university career, he imposed them on them."

Despotism: exercise of unlimited power and in the hands of a single person with characteristics of a tyrant

Meanwhile, the exercise of authoritarian and unlimited power displayed by a despot will be called asdespotism.

It is a way of government characterized by singular authority, that is, a single person in charge of power and taking over decisions, and normally does not respect the law in force, or for now the one that he has not established before assuming his position.

Despotism does not recognize or accept any type of institutional control, nor legislation in force, that is, the will and decisions of whoever exercises power, the despot, will always be above any law or normative.

Enlightened despotism: absolute monarchy framed in the old European regime influenced by the ideas of Enlightenment

On your side, enlightened despotism It is a form of government that is framed within the absolute monarchies typical of the old European regime but that stood out for the influence of the philosophical ideas proposed by the Enlightenment (movement European cultural culture that began in the early 18th century and culminated in the French Revolution) and whose main sentence proposed to overcome the darkness into which humanity of those times had fallen through reason; this as the only guide to men's decisions.

Only reason could combat the tyranny, superstition and ignorance in which society found itself until the arrival of the Enlightenment movement. For this reason, this moment in history is also designated as Century of the lights.

This type of despotism has also been known to designate as benevolent despotism, to clearly differentiate it from plain despotism that obviously did not propose the same, nor the happiness of the people, as benevolent despotism did. Some of the famous representatives of this movement have been: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Tomas Hobbes, Charles de Secondat, among others, all of them important intellectuals and referents of the Enlightenment.

Themes in Despot