party rules with absolute power to accomplish eco-
nomic socialism); FASCIST nationalism (as in NAZI
Germany where racial purity is achieved by a certain
“pure” [Aryan] leader). In each of these cases, the
absolute ruler is not restrained by law, other rulers,
custom, or God. In actual fact, most of these abso-
lute governments were limited by some other social
groups or forces (the social elite, businesses, the
church, or, ultimately, military defeat by other
nations).
Historically, the concept of an absolutist state
occurs in the early Modern period (1600–1700s) in
reaction to the monarchs in France, Germany, Russia,
and Britain. These monarchies of the Middle Ages
asserted their absolute authority as their actual power
was declining with the rise of industrialism, republican
government, and the middle class. Sir Robert FILMERin
England and Bishop Bossuet in France argued that
kings were God’s vice regents—to be given absolute
respect and obedience. The rule of these divine kings
was considered always just and good for the whole
society. During the Middle Ages (A.D. 500–1500) the
Roman CATHOLICChurch in Europe and the Eastern
Orthodox Church in Russia tended to support this
view of absolute authority of the king (or czar) under
the ultimate authority of God. With the rise of modern
REPUBLICANISM (in Parliament in England and the
Estates General in France), absolutism was challenged
with the ideals of popular SOVEREIGNTYof the governed
and the rule of law.
The U.S. Constitution with its system of CHECKS
AND BALANCES, which deliberately divides power among
different branches and levels of government, is a direct
response to absolutist government. From PURITAN
thinkers John LOCKEand John CALVIN, whose teachings
influenced the founding of the U.S. Constitution, came
a suspicion of human nature as inherently sinful and
domineering. Therefore, the source of absolutist gov-
ernment was really in human nature itself—a universal
desire of every person to be in control and to dominate
others. The solution for this human tendency to want
all power was to separate and divide power constitu-
tionally (such as between legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of the state) and, in the words of
James MADISON, to “pit ambition against ambition,” or
counteract power with other power in society. This
institutional solution to absolutism relies less on
human virtue and more on formal rules and proce-
dures to prevent concentration of absolutist political
power.
Further Readings
Barnes, Thomas Garden. Renaissance, Reformation, and Abso-
lutism.Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1979.
Daly, J. The Idea of Absolute Monarchy in Seventeenth-Century
England.1978.
Durand, G. What is Absolutism?In Louis XIV and Absolutism,
R. Hutton, ed. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1976.
Franklin, J. Jean Bodin and the Rise of Absolutist Theory in
France. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press,
1973.
Harris, R. W. Absolutism and Enlightenment.London: Blandford
Press, 1964.
Jones, Richard H. The Royal Policy of Richard II: Absolutism in
the later Middle Ages.New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968.
Slavin, Arthur Joseph. The New Monarchies and Representative
Assemblies: Medieval Constitutionalism or Modern Abso-
lutism?Boston: Heath, 1964.activism/activist
The involvement of a citizen in a social cause or
political movement. A person who engages in social
activism is often called an activist. Such social
involvement, which ranges from public demonstra-
tions and marches, to publishing tracts and newslet-
ters, to lobbying public officials and news media, has
become common in Western democratic countries in
the 20th century. Some common movements associ-
ated with activism include the civil rights movement,
the women’s movement, environmentalism or the
Green movement, and the gay and lesbian rights
movement. Activists are often portrayed as liberal or
even radical, and activism as usually critical of the
existing social order or morals. Although activism
had more positive connotations during the liberal
1960–70s era, it has acquired generally more negative
images among conservatives during the 1980–90s.
Activists are sometimes portrayed as heroic, at other
times as fanatical.activism, judicial
The practice of courts, especially federal courts in the
United States, to use legal conflicts to determine social
policy. Rather than seeing the judicial process as lim-
ited to criminal or civil disputes between individuals,
judicial activism sees the courts as applying law (or
the CONSTITUTION) to social issues, such as racial or
gender equality, education, prison conditions, and
environmental quality. The classic example of judicial
activism was the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the
case of Brown v. Board of Educationin 1954, in whichactivism, judicial 3