Sultanism

Part of the Politics series
Basic forms of government
List of forms · List of countries
Source of power Democracy (rule by many) Demarchy Direct Economic Liberal Representative Social Socialist Others Oligarchy (rule by few) Anocracy Aristocracy Gerontocracy Kleptocracy Kritarchy Meritocracy Noocracy Particracy Plutocracy Stratocracy Technocracy Theocracy Autocracy (rule by one) Despotism Dictatorship Military dictatorship Tyranny Anarchy (rule by none) Anarchism Free association Stateless
Power ideology Monarchy Republic (socio-political ideologies) Absolute Communist Constitutional Directorial Legalist Parliamentary Presidential Semi-presidential Authoritarian Libertarian (socio-economic ideologies) Anarchism Colonialism Communism Despotism Distributism Fascism Feudalism Socialism Totalitarianism Tribalism Religious Secular State religion Secular state Separation of church and state State atheism Global Local (geo-cultural ideologies) City-state Intergovernmental organisation National government World government Nationalism Internationalism Globalism
Power structure Unitarism Unitary state Empire Principality Client state Associated state Dependent territory Dominion Protectorate Puppet state Puppet monarch Satellite state Self-governing colony Tributary state Buffer state Vassal state Viceroyalty Federalism Confederation Devolution Federation Superstate Supranational union International relations Small power Middle power Regional power Emerging power Great power Superpower
Related Administrative division Democracy indices Democratic transition Autocratization Democratisation Hybrid regimes
Politics portal
v t e

In political science, sultanism 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 sultan, a title used in Muslim societies for a secular sovereign or monarch, often in contrast with the religious title of caliph. In modern scholarly usage, sultanism is not limited to Muslim or Middle Eastern societies. In 1996, Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan listed the clearest examples of sultanism as "Haiti under the Duvaliers, the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, the Central African Republic under Bokassa, the Philippines under Marcos, Romania under Ceauşescu, and North Korea under Kim Il Sung".^[1] According to Linz and 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^[1]

In sultanism, the sultan may or may not adopt a ruling ideology, but he 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 or gangs as stated by Max Weber in Economy and Society:

[I]n 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.^[2]

• Absolute monarchy
• Caliphate
• Cult of personality
• Despotism
• Dictatorship
• Monarchy
• Sultanate
• Tyranny

• Eke, Steven M.; Taras Kuzio (May 2000). "Sultanism in Eastern Europe: The Socio-Political Roots of Authoritarian Populism in Belarus". Europe-Asia Studies. 52 (3): 523–547. doi:10.1080/713663061. S2CID 153583106.
• Guliyev, Farid (2005). "Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: Transition to Sultanistic Semiauthoritarianism? An Attempt at Conceptualization". Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 13 (3): 393–435.

This social philosophy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e