Absolutism

Absolutism refers to the political doctrine and practice of unlimited centralised power and absolute sovereignty of rule by a single individual or group, typically a monarch or dictator. 

Absolutism implies the absence of checks and balances, such as a legally organised opposition.

Variants of absolutism have existed in, for example, Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and the 

Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. When an absolute ruler exercises power oppressively, he is considered a despot. King Louis XIV of France captured the essence of absolutism when he said,

“L’état, c’est moi,” or “I am the state.”