Compare And Contrast Absolutism And Constitutionalism

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Comparisons and Contrasts of Absolutism and Constitutionalism Absolutism and constitutionalism can both describe types of governments. Neither are government forms themselves, but describe a government form such as a Monarchy. Absolutism, like the name suggests, refers to the absolute belief in political, philosophical, ethical, or theological matters. So, an absolute monarch would be free of any restraints or opposition to do whatever they want. Constitutionalism, on the other hand limits the powers of a ruler, even a monarch, by a multitude of ideas customs and laws which serves as a restriction for what the ruler can do and what rights the people of that nation have. Government types in each nation differ from one another throughout time …show more content…

Both are formed over time based on circumstance and both have advantages and disadvantages. Absolutism will take away the rights of the people, which in western culture especially with a rising middle class tends to create unrest. Despite this, with undefined power to a ruler, it means they can do things quicker than if there was opposition and a constitution to bypass, which means in a way it can be flexible, however it really all depends on the type of government, and the ruler. If the ruler is ignorant or arrogant, it may become extremely less flexible to changing circumstances, which is where the advantages of constitutionalism are shown. Constitutionalism will generally be more stable than absolutism with a few exceptions. The stability is caused by the increased power to the people rather than a ruler and the ruler has defined power and cannot easily defy what the people of the nation want depending on the constitution. Which means the people of that nation will be less likely to revolt against the current ruler if he follows the constitution. However, it can go both ways since if the ruler tries to exceed the power given by the constitution the people would probably be more likely to revolt. Despite this, it is still ends up being more stable most of the …show more content…

A state running an economy especially with trade will generally fall behind due to the lack of flexibility to changing prices. Constitutionalism generally will restrict intervention enough so that it is not state-controlled, although it is still possible it will be regardless. With absolutism, a ruler could choose to intervene as much or little as they want, which can be dangerous and means any ruler could choose to take over that aspect, and the result will usually end badly. Stability will always help economically and constitutionalism is more stable in contrast to

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