- Sultanism
Sultanism, another name for "
Despotism ", is a form of authoritarian government characterized by the extreme personal presence of the ruler in all elements of governance. The ruler may or may not be present in economic or social life, and thus there may be pluralism in these areas, but this is never true of political power.The term "Sultanism" is derived from the word "
Sultan ", which is a title used in Muslim societies for a sovereign or absolute monarch. The Sultan was traditionally a secular office, unlike the Caliphate, and thus the term "Sultanism" should not be deemed anti-Islamic.According to
Juan Linz & Stepan::"... [T] he essential reality in a sultanistic regime is that all individuals, groups and institutions are permanently subject to the unpredictable and despotic intervention of the sultan, and thus all pluralism is precarious." Linz & Stepan, "Modern Nondemocratic Regimes" in "Problems of Democratic Transition & Consolidation", Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996.
In Sultanism, the sultan may or may not adopt a ruling
ideology but is never bound by any rules or given ideology, even his own. The sultan may also use whatever forces he can to exercise his personal will, such as para-militaries organgs .The clearest examples of sultanism are "Haiti under the Duvaliers, the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, the Central African Republic under Bokassa, the Philippines under Marcos, Iran under the Shah, Romania under Ceauşescu, and North Korea under Kim Il Sung." (Linz & Stepan, "Modern Nondemocratic Regimes").
:"...in the extreme case, "Sultanism" tend [s] to arise whenever traditional domination develops an administration and a military force which are purely instruments of the master... Where domination... operates primarily on the basis of discretion, it will be called "sultanism"... The non-traditional element is not, however, rationalized in impersonal terms, but consists only in the extreme development of the ruler's discretion. It is this which distinguishes it from every form of rational authority."
Max Weber , "Economy & Society", University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978.ee also
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Sultanate
*Despotism
*Tyranny
*Absolute monarchy
*Dictatorship
*Authoritarianism
*Caliphate Further reading
* cite journal
quotes =
last = Eke
first = Steven M.
authorlink =
coauthors = Taras Kuzio
date =
year = 2000
month = May
title = Sultanism in Eastern Europe: The Socio-Political Roots of Authoritarian Populism in Belarus
journal =Europe-Asia Studies
volume = 52
issue = 3
pages = 523–547
doi = 10.1080/713663061
id =
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