autokratia

Autokratia, or autocracy, is a system of governance in which supreme power is concentrated in the hands of a single ruler or a single ruling entity. The term derives from the Greek autokrátia, auto- 'self' and krátos, 'rule.' In classical and medieval usage, autocracy described rulers who held unbounded authority and were not bound by a constitution or by widely accepted legal limits. In the Byzantine Empire, the title autokratôr (autocrat) signified the emperor’s supreme authority over state and church.

In practice, autocracy is characterized by centralized decision making and a lack of meaningful political pluralism. The autocrat or ruling dynasty often exercises control over the executive, legislative, and judiciary, with power maintained through personal legitimacy, patronage networks, coercive institutions, censorship, and restricted civil liberties. Formal institutions may exist, but political competition and checks on power are limited or absent.

Historically, autocracy has appeared in monarchies, personalist regimes, and some single-party states. Absolute monarchies of early modern Europe are cited as examples, as are various modern regimes described by scholars as autocratic or personalist. Autocracies can be constitutional in form while preserving centralized power, or non-constitutional with power exercised without legal constraints.

Autocracy is distinct from democracy (rule by the people through elections and protection of civil rights), oligarchy (rule by a few), despotism (arbitrary rule), and authoritarianism (limited political pluralism with some procedural rules). The label of autocracy is used by political scientists to describe regimes with concentrated power and weak or absent mechanisms of accountability.