Editing Absolute monarchy (section)

{{inline citations|date=May 2025}}{{short description|Form of government in which the monarch has absolute power}}
{{Original research|date=September 2020}}
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| image1            = Salman of Saudi Arabia - 2020 (49563590728) (cropped).jpg
| image2            = Haitham bin Tariq Al Said in 2024 ( هَيْثَم بْن طَارِق آل سَعِيد ) (cropped).jpg
| footer            = [[Salman of Saudi Arabia|King Salman bin Abdulaziz]] and [[Haitham bin Tariq|Sultan Haitham bin Tariq]] are the current absolute monarchs of [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Oman]], respectively.
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{{Monarchism|expanded = types}}
{{Basic forms of government}}'''Absolute monarchy'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldie |first1=Mark |last2=Wokler |first2=Robert |author-link2=Robert Wokler |date=2006-08-31 |title=The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521374224 |page=523 |chapter=Philosophical kingship and enlightened despotism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFNHyh9WY3AC&pg=PA523 |access-date=13 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Leopardi Giroux |title=Zibaldone |date=16 July 2013 |isbn=978-0374296827 |page=1438 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzCpxEYO6JwC&pg=PA1438}}</ref> is a form of [[monarchy]] in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by [[Constitutional monarchy|constitutions]], [[Legislature|legislatures]] or other checks on their authority.<ref name="Harris 2009">{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Nathanial |year=2009 |title=Systems of Government Monarchy |publisher=Evans Brothers |isbn=978-0-237-53932-0 |lang=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5SKJanyblIC}}</ref> 

The absolutist system of government saw its high point in Europe during the [[Absolutism (European history)|16th and 17th century]], associated with a form of rule unconstrained by the former checks of [[feudalism]], embodied by figures such as [[Louis XIV|Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King"]]. Attempting to establish an absolutist government along continental lines, [[Charles I of England]] viewed [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] as unnecessary, which excess would ultimately lead to the [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651) and [[Execution of Charles I|his execution]]. Absolutism declined substantially, first following the [[French Revolution]], and later after [[World War I]], both of which led to the popularization of modes of government based on the notion of [[popular sovereignty]]. Nonetheless, it provided an ideological foundation for the newer political theories and movements that emerged to oppose liberal democracy, such as [[Legitimists|Legitimism]] and [[Carlism]] in the early 19th century, or "[[integral nationalism]]" in the early 20th century.

Absolute monarchies include [[Brunei]], [[Eswatini]],<ref name="swazi-abs">{{cite news|title=Swaziland profile|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14095303|work=BBC News|date=2018-09-03|access-date=2018-07-21|archive-date=2023-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915104642/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14095303|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Oman]],<ref name="oman-abs">{{cite news |title=Q&A: Elections to Oman's consultative Council |date=2011-10-13 |website=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15288960 |access-date=2018-07-21 |archive-date=2020-01-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128112015/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15288960 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref name="Cavendish78" /> [[Vatican City]],<ref name="Vatican city">{{cite web |title=Organi dello Stato |trans-title=State Departments |publisher=[[Vatican State]] |website=vaticanstate.va |url=http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo/organi-dello-stato.html |access-date=2014-01-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102165340/http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo/organi-dello-stato.html |archive-date=2013-11-02}}<br />
{{cite web |title=State Departments  |publisher=[[Vatican State]] |website=vaticanstate.va |url=https://www.vaticanstate.va/en/state-government/state-departments/state-departments-1.html |access-date=2019-09-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411154311/https://www.vaticanstate.va/en/state-government/state-departments/state-departments-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-11}}</ref> and the individual emirates composing the [[United Arab Emirates]], which itself is a [[federation]] of such monarchies – a [[federal monarchy]].<ref name="qat-abs">{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Michael |date=2013-01-07 |title=Qatar: Regional backwater to global player |website=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20890765 |access-date=2018-07-21 |archive-date=2023-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601164832/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20890765 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=:0>{{cite news |title=Vatican to emirates, monarchs keep the reins in modern world |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/Vatican-to-Emirates-monarchs-keep-the-reins-in-modern-world/articleshow/8139118.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016094408/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-02/education/29495629_1_monarchy-absolute-power-head |archive-date=2013-10-16}}</ref> Though absolute monarchies are sometimes supported by legal documents, they are distinct from [[constitutional monarchies]], in which the authority of the monarch is restricted (e.g. by legislature or unwritten customs) or balanced by that of other officials, such as a [[prime minister]], as is in the case of the [[United Kingdom]], or the [[Nordic countries]].<ref name="Harris 2009"/>

Absolute monarchies are similar to but should not be confused with hereditary [[Republicanism|republican]] [[dictatorships]] such as [[North Korea]] or [[Ba'athist Syria]].