It is true for today that when one thinks of absolutism, one usually thinks of only its negative aspects. But absolutism has its benefits. In our text, it states that "absolute rulers maintained their authority by controlling a centralized bureaucracy and a standing army, and by pursuing economic policies designed to maximize the wealth of the state." With an absolutist ruler, a state is able to flourish economically, politically, and culturally. A positive side of this comes from the cultural aspect. Absolute rulers can be a bit egotistical and want to show just how wealthy and majestic they are, and one way to do that is with the arts. Many of the most beautiful pieces of art ever created were ordered to be made by absolute rulers such as the Taj Mahal, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the statue of David, the list could go on and on. If it were not for the self-centeredness and competitiveness of absolutists, we would probably not have many of the art pieces that we have today.
Although culture usually thrives with an absolute government, it is not the type of government I would have run any sort of society. I think that the negatives outweigh the positives in that case. In an absolute government a ruler does not always have the people's best interest in mind which can be detrimental for society. I also think that placing that amount of power into any one person's hands is very risky and does not usually have a positive outcome which is why we do not see that type of government today.
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While I agree that absolutism enabled many states during this time to culturally expand and flourish, that was not the only positive aspect of absolutism. Absolutism can be seen as a necessary transition from feudalism during the Middle Ages to the capitalist states. Under feudalism, the peasants or serfs as they were called had horrible lives, they were taxed by not only the nobles but also the king and worked land for their nobles. With the rise of the absolute monarchs, we have the nobles losing power, which means that the peasants now pay taxes to the king who does afford them some sort of protection with the army and more proctection from the corrupt nobles. The absolute monarchs started the transition to capitalism by taking away power from the nobles and centralizing it into an effective state. More was accomplished during the reign of Louis the XIV than during most of the Middle Ages. Louis was able to unify France together from a collection of feudal lands to an actual state called France, which led to a sense of nationalism being started at this time. While this led to increased warfare, which drained the national treasury, most states that later unified had to fight wars in order to control border lands that belonged with a particular country, so the warfare was justified in creating a single French state.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I would say that this form of government is acceptable for certain societies as long as the leaders are not tyrannical or completely corrupt. Today’s types of absolute regimes are often called authoritarianism and most of the world has authoritarian regimes. Many of these regimes are legitimate and actually benefit the state. South Korea is one example in which an authoritarian regime can actually benefit a society. During the authoritarian time period, significant economic growth took place in South Korea that enabled it to rebuild after the Korean War and become one of Asia’s top economic powers. While I do not support restricting rights and freedoms, in small doses it can benefit a state, especially one plagued with in fighting and ethnic conflict. A strong, centralized leader with ultimate authority can bring a state together and stop fighting that could be killing off most of the state’s population. While it is risky putting that much power into one person’s hands, that is why today there are checks such as the UN or that state’s military that can intervene and overthrow that ruler if they are too corrupt and hurtful for that state. Absolutism was necessary in the transition to our modern world and has helped many current states.