The novelty of Montesquieu’s definition of despotism

Abstract

Nowhere in his work Montesquieu did give a precise definition of despotism as one of three types of government. However, a number of places where Montesquieu wrote about despotism reveal a fairly consistent model based on five key principles: 1) the supremacy of only one (ruling) political force; 2) equality of subjects based on their nothingness; 3) simplicity of social structure (devoid of class and rank); 4) administrative distribution of only one (ruling) political force; as well as 5) metropolization as a consequence of homogenization policy of one (ruling) political force.

Keywords

• Montesquieu
• despotism
• administration
• freedom
• virtue