1. Dominance through threat of punishment and violence
   - absolutism, tyranny 
2. A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
   - dictatorship, absolutism, authoritarianism, Caesarism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny

Derived forms: despotisms

Type of: ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, ascendency, autarchy, autocracy, control, dominance

Encyclopedia: Despotism

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