Absolutism (Public Administration)

A form of autocracy in which all political power is wielded by a single monarch. While the term absolutism may be used in a variety of different contexts, it primarily denotes a period of European governance from approximately the 17th to 19th centuries. Before the 17th century, power was largely shared between the monarchy and the nobility. Seeking to usurp the nobles' (and often the Church's) authority, monarchal rulers began to claim themselves uniquely ordained by God (in a tradition known as the “divine right of kings”) and therefore the only earthly individuals qualified to rule in God's name. Although it remains unclear how powerful such monarchs truly were, the idea of absolutism spread across the European continent and resulted in some of the first standing armies in Western history. Although it was ultimately brief, the so-called Age of Absolutism thus had an undeniable influence on subsequent European history. For more information, see P. H. Wilson (2000).