Editing Caesarism

{{Short description|Political philosophy inspired by Julius Caesar}}

[[File:Rimini083.jpg|thumb|right|220px|A statue of Julius Caesar, in the city of [[Rimini]], Italy]]
{{Julius Caesar series}}
In political science, the term '''Caesarism''' identifies and describes an [[authoritarian]], [[Populism|populist]], and [[autocratic]] ideology inspired by [[Julius Caesar]], the [[leadership|leader]] of Rome, from 49 BC to 44 BC.<ref name=c/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Caesarism |title=Caesarism |publisher=The Free Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Caesarism | title=The American Heritage Dictionary entry: Caesarism }}</ref>

== History ==
The German historian [[Johann Friedrich Böhmer]] first used the term ''Caesarism'' in 1846, to describe the state's political subordination of the Roman Catholic Church.<ref name=c>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R86cltC2mNMC&q=caesarism&pg=PA34 |title=Caesarism, Charisma and Fate: Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber |first=Peter |last=Baehr |pages=32–35 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4128-0813-2}}</ref> Published in 1850, ''L'ère des Césars'' by {{ill|Auguste Romieu|fr}} defined Caesarism as the military rule and régime of a [[warlord]], and "following Romieu's polemic, 'Caesarism' quickly gained vogue status."<ref name=c/> In 1857, the religious writer [[Orestes Brownson]] used the term Caesarism to mean rule and régime of [[absolute monarchy]].<ref name=c/> In 1858, the mainstream usage of the term occurs in a ''[[Westminster Review]]'' article of political criticism about the "clumsy eulogies of Caesarism as [being] incarnate in the dynasty of Bonaparte".<ref name=c/>

As an admirer of Julius Caesar, Napoléon Bonaparte espoused Caesarism as a justification of his rule and régime of France.{{sfn|Baehr|2009|page=54}} [[Napoleon III]]'s policy under the [[Second French Empire]], which combined an authoritarian regime and a proactive social policy, notably with the [[Ollivier law]] of 1864, can be described as a form of "social Caesarism".<ref>{{cite book|first=Cyrille |last=Ferraton |author-link=:fr:Cyrille Ferraton |title=Associations et coopératives, Une autre histoire économique |language=fr |trans-title=Associations and cooperatives, Another economic story |publisher=ERES |date=2007 |pages=116}}</ref> According to historian {{ill|Louis Girard (historian)|fr|Louis Girard}}, this policy aims in particular to rally the workers to the regime in the face of hostile liberal bosses.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Louis |last=Girard |author-link=:fr:Louis Girard |title=Les élections de 1869 |language=fr |trans-title=The elections of 1869 |journal=Revue d'Histoire du xixe siècle - 1848 |volume=21 |number=1 |date=1960 |pages=X |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/r1848_1155-8822_1960_ant_21_1_2801}}</ref>

[[Benjamin Disraeli]] was accused of Caesarism in March 1878 when, in anticipation of war with Russia, he mobilised British reserves and called Indian troops to [[Malta]]. [[G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton]] made one of the most ringing denunciations of Caesarism in his work [[Heretics (book)|''Heretics'']], calling it "the worst form of slavery".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/470/470-h/470-h.htm#chap19 |title=Heretics |first=G.K. |last=Chesterton |author-link=G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton}}</ref>

Sociologist [[Max Weber]] believed that every [[mass democracy]] went in a Caesarist direction. Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed the term to stress, [[inter alia]], the [[Plebeian_Council|plebiscitary]] character of elections, disdain for parliament, the non-toleration of autonomous powers within the government and a failure to attract or suffer independent political minds."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://law.stanford.edu/publications/caesarism-in-democratic-politics-reflections-on-max-weber/ |title=Caesarism in Democratic Politics: Reflections on Max Weber}}</ref>

== 20th century ==
A so-called "democratic" form of Caesarism has been advocated by theorists like [[Venezuela]]'s [[Laureano Vallenilla Lanz]] in ''Cesarismo Democrático'' (1919).<ref name=diego>{{cite book|last1=von Vacano |first1=Diego A. |title=The Color of Citizenship: Race, Modernity and Latin American / Hispanic Political Thought |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2012 |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=9780199746668 |pages=83–111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjsjyJhSepoC&q=Laureano+Vallenilla+Lanz+caesarism&pg=PA83}}</ref> [[Italy|Italian]] ''[[Duce]]'' [[Benito Mussolini]] and the ideology of [[Italian fascism]] espoused Caesarism.<ref>{{cite book|first=Emilio |last=Gentile |author-link=Emilio Gentile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNmrDDs8lSkC |title=The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishers]] |date=2003 |pages=137–138|isbn=9780275976927 }}</ref>

[[Antonio Gramsci]] stated that the roots of Caesarism lie at the level of a "crisis of authority," which is also a crisis of representation that occurs when social groups no longer identify with political parties. These then become anachronistic, allowing a Caesarist solution to emerge. In the Italian case, Gramsci locates the causes of this socio-political disintegration in the destabilizing experience of the First World War, where the large peasant masses were forced to fight. At the same time, they had been passive during the [[Unification of Italy|Risorgimento]]. Caesarism is a macro-social phenomenon and cannot be driven by the emergence of an individual; this phenomenon, therefore, fulfills a political function. Furthermore, Gramsci evokes the possibility of a "Caesarism without Caesar" but implemented by a group like the [[National Government (United Kingdom)|British National Government]] bringing together [[Conservative Party (UK)|the Conservatives]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=George |last1=Hoare |title=An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy Paperback |date=2015 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1472572769 |pages=58–59}}</ref>

[[Oswald Spengler]] described Caeserism as a final phase of modernity that would succeed democracy.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYjYLoGSsQgC&q=%22caesarism%22&pg=PA347 | title=The Decline of the West | isbn=978-0-19-506634-0 | last1=Spengler | first1=Oswald | last2=Helps | first2=Arthur | last3=Atkinson | first3=Charles Francis | date=1991 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4h9suZLJPcC&dq=oswald+spengler+caesarism&pg=PA257 | title=Caesar and the Fading of the Roman World | isbn=978-1-4128-1905-3 | last1=Baehr | first1=Peter | publisher=Transaction Publishers }}</ref>

== 21st century ==
According to French historian [[Christian-Georges Schwentzel]] in the 21st century, the American [[Donald Trump]], the Russian [[Vladimir Putin]] and the Turk [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] partly took over this Caesarean model by adapting it, responding at the same time to a desire for authority and grandeur emanating from their peoples.<ref>{{cite news|title=Trump, Poutine, Erdogan: le désir d'autorité a un précédent: Jules César |language=fr |trans-title=Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Caesars of the 21st century |first=Christian-Georges |last=Schwentzel |author-link=:fr:Christian-Georges Schwentzel |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=24 January 2017 |url=http://www.slate.fr/story/134945/trump-poutine-erdogan-cesar-xxi-siecle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170126071044/http://www.slate.fr/story/134945/trump-poutine-erdogan-cesar-xxi-siecle |archive-date=26 January 2017 |access-date=13 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Christian-Georges |last=Schwentzel |author-link=:fr:Christian-Georges Schwentzel |title=La Fabrique des Chefs, d'Akhenaton à Donald Trump |language=fr |trans-title=The Fabric of Leaders, from Akhenaten to Donald Trump |location=Paris |publisher=Vendémiaire |date=2017 |isbn=978-2-36358-252-2 |pages=160–164}}</ref> 
In the 2020s,  parts of the [[American right-wing]], especially those associated with the [[Claremont Institute]] think tank, have advocated for "Red Caesarism" as an authoritarian solution to problems facing the US.<ref name="Red Caesarism">{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Jason |title='Red Caesarism' is rightwing code – and some Republicans are listening |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/01/red-caesar-authoritarianism-republicans-extreme-right |work=The Guardian |date=October 1, 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Politics}}
* [[Bonapartism]]
* [[Caudillo]]
* [[Caesaropapism]]
* [[Cult of personality]]
* [[Italian fascism]]
* ''[[The Decline of the West]]''<!--Spengler (in)famously demanded such a figure-->
* [[Stratocracy]]
* [[Strongman (politics)]]
* [[Third Rome]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Julius Caesar|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Julius Caesar]]
[[Category:Political terminology]]
[[Category:Autocracy]]