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Full Definition of DESPOTISM. 1. a: rule by a despot b: despotic exercise of power. 2. a: a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power: absolutism b: a despotic state.
The Enlightened Despots The so-called Enlightened Despots were those rulers of the 18th Century who put into practice various ideas of the Age of the Enlightenment and the writings of the Philosophes. Their programmes, however, depended on despotic power. They did not see themselves as ruling by the will of the people.