What is the meaning of Autocracy? Concept and Definition of Autocracy

Definition, Concept, Meaning, What is Autocracy

1. Concept of autocracy

Autocracy is a political concept. The term comes from the Greek Auto (self) and kratos (Government or power). Refers to the system of Government whose authority rests with one person without any limits: the autocrat (the one that governs itself).
The absolutist conception of sovereignty defined the absolute monarchy of Luis XIV in 17TH-century France, but the autocratic term particularly applies to the rule of the tsars of Russia, whose power was theoretically conditioned by any intermediate body, tradition or law and customs that should be respected.
Republicanism applies the term autocracy as synonym of monarchy (meaning "rule of one"), although the concept is not suitable to designate the modern limited, parliamentary or constitutional monarchies.
Its most common use is as a parameter of participation in political power, as opposed to others such as oligarchy and democracy.
Democracy is a power structure built from below upwards; autocracy organizes the State from top to bottom.
Hermann Heller

2. Definition of autocracy

The concept of autocracy is a political concept that is used to refer to those types of Governments in which power is concentrated in one person and which is not therefore allow the participation of other individuals or social groups. The autocracy was very characteristic of different moments in the history of mankind and although today most common Government is democracy, this does not prevent some political figures to impose over the remaining powers to keep in place indefinitely. The word autocracy comes from the Greek for which cars means "oneself" and kratos means "rule". This gives us to understand that autocracy is the Government of one single.
Autocracy is a type of Government that both sought or not, becomes the Government of one. That person can be of different origin: military, professional, Union, etc. It is to say that this is not a decisive factor since throughout history different autocracies have had leaders of different social extraction. However, an element without a doubt determinant is the personality and the character who will become leader: should always be a person of strong and decisive character, whose plans or decisions are imposed with firmness. In addition, an autocracy may be developed there should not be any kind of opposition or at least it should be very weak. This is the reason why all autocratic Governments demonstrate tolerance zero and repression towards those who show dissent with respect to policies and decisions.
Another interesting element of autocracies is that they can be generated within other types of Governments, for example as with autocratic governments that arise inside democratic forms. This is the case of leaders who emerge and be erected as part of a partisan proposal, chosen through free and democratic elections but which, once arrived to power, that leader becomes a centralist and authoritarian person.

3 Meaning of autocracy

Autocracy, from the Greek, "auto", meaning by itself, and "cracy" which is translated as Government, is that political form whose Government is exercised by one person, granted itself powers unlimited, being similar to the dictatorship, but has different practical application. In ancient Rome, the dictatorship was a judiciary that was established on an exceptional basis, for no more than six months, with all the powers, but in order to restore order, temporarily. At the end of the end, disappeared.
Modern military dictatorship that took power in Latin America, also made it under the pretext of restoring order and then to call democratic elections, but many have not met that goal. In these cases the Government was in the hands sometimes a person but also a set of them, as it was the case with the military Juntas that governed the Republic Argentina ente the dark years between 1976 and 1983.
As for tyranny, it can be more assimilable to autocracy, since it is a deformation of the monarchy, which is the Government of one, but in the case of tyranny the ruling acts not in view of the common interest, but his staff.
The Russian monarchy that exercised the power between the 17TH and 19th centuries can typically be described of autocracy. It was the Tsarist regime, with not only political, but also economic power and religious, or total, without subjection to the laws, what I did that people had towards State power a unconditional subjection. The English poet Robert Southey (1774-1843) used the name of autocracy to qualify the Government of Napoleón Bonaparte.