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An autocracy is a system of government in which a supreme political power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perhaps for the implicit threat of coup d'état or mass insurrection).^[1]

History and Etymology[link]

Autocracy is any form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek αὐτοκρατία: αὐτός ("self") and κρατεῖν ("rule"), and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy ("rule by the few") and democracy ("rule by the people"). Like "despot", "tyrant", "strongman" and "dictator", "autocrat" has become a loaded word with a negative value judgment in contemporary English usage.

The term autokratōr was employed in antiquity to translate the Latin imperator into Greek. It was the primary word used by grecophones to refer to the Roman Emperor during the later Roman Empire through the seventh century CE and continued to be used in the Byzantine period, although it lost favor to Sebastos ("augustus") and Basileus (obscure: prob. "chieftain;" later "king") as synonyms for "emperor".^{[citation needed]} This use remains current in the modern Greek language, where the term is used for anyone holding the title "emperor," regardless of the actual power of the monarch.

Comparison with other forms of government[link]

Both totalitarianism and military dictatorship, are often identified with, but need not be, autocracy. Totalitarism is a system where the state strives to control every aspect of life and civil society. It can be headed by a supreme dictator, making it autocratic, but it can have a collective leadership such as a commune or soviet. Likewise, military dictatorships often take the form of "collective presidencies" such as the South American juntas of the late 20th century, meaning that no one person wields supreme power.

The term monarchy is only a synonym for autocracy in the case of an absolute monarchy. For this reason, some historical Slavic monarchs, such as Russian Emperors, included the title "autocrat" as part of their official styles, distinguishing them from the constitutional monarchs elsewhere in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Because autocrats need a power structure to rule, it can be difficult to draw a clear line between historical autocracies and oligarchies. Most historical autocrats depended on their nobles, the military, the priesthood or other elite groups.^[2]

See also[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Autocracy.

• Dictatorship
• Authoritarianism
• Totalitarianism
• Byzantine Empire
• Nazi Germany
• Roman Empire
• The Third Wave
• Theocracy
• Tsarist autocracy

References[link]