Absolute monarchy

Absolute monarchy (or absolutism as doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch holds supreme autocratic authority, principally not being restricted by written laws, legislature, or customs. These are often hereditary monarchies. In contrast, in constitutional monarchies, the head of state's authority derives from or is legally bound or restricted by a constitution or legislature.Jerome Blum et al., The European World (1970) 1:267-68
The popularity of the notion of the absolute monarchy declined substantially after the French Revolution, which promoted theories of government based on popular sovereignty.
Some monarchies have a weak or symbolic legislature and other governmental bodies which the monarch can alter or dissolve at will. Countries where monarchs still maintain absolute power are: Brunei, Eswatini, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City and the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, which itself is a federation of such monarchies – a federal monarchy.
==References==
==Further reading==
* Anderson, Perry. Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso, 1974.
* Beloff, Max. The Age of Absolutism From 1660 to 1815 (1961)
* Blum, Jerome et al. The European World (vol 1 1970) pp 267–466
* Kimmel, Michael S. Absolutism and Its Discontents: State and Society in Seventeenth-Century France and England. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988.
* Méttam, Roger. Power and Faction in Louis XIV's France. New York: Blackwell Publishers, 1988.
* Miller, John (ed.). Absolutism in Seventeenth Century Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1990.
* Wilson, Peter H. Absolutism in Central Europe. New York: Routledge, 2000.
* Zmohra, Hillay. Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe - 1300-1800. New York: Routledge, 2001
Category:Monarchy
Category:Political theories