Changes

[[File:Josephii.jpg|thumb|160px|The motto of Joseph II was "Everything for the people, nothing by the people."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e_m13Hk3AFEC&pg=PA121 Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends]</ref>]]

[[File:Josephii.jpg|thumb|160px|The motto of Joseph II was "Everything for the people, nothing by the people."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=e_m13Hk3AFEC&pg=PA121 Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends]</ref>]]

An '''enlightened despot''' was a [[monarch]] during the [[Enlightenment]] who ruled with some concern for the welfare of his people.  In other words, this type of [[king]] allowed some reforms for the good of the people but still maintained absolute power. [[Voltaire]], a prominent French philosophe and Enlightenment thinker, was a proponent of such a government. Monarchs that are considered enlightened despots usually ruled over Eastern European countries, such as [[Emperor]] [[Joseph II]] of [[Austria]] or [[Catherine the Great]] of [[Russia]].

An '''enlightened despot''' was a [[monarch]] during the [[Enlightenment]] who ruled with some concern for the welfare of his people.  In other words, this type of [[king]] allowed some reforms for the good of the people but still maintained absolute power. Enlightened despotism forms a crucial part of progressivism, having been referenced by [[Woodrow Wilson]] in his ever-important work [[The Study of Administration]].  Wilson wrote that the [[Administrative state]] present in European despotic systems could be imported and Americanized.

 

[[Voltaire]], a prominent French philosophe and Enlightenment thinker, was also a proponent of such a government. Monarchs that are considered enlightened despots usually ruled over Eastern European countries, such as [[Emperor]] [[Joseph II]] of [[Austria]] or [[Catherine the Great]] of [[Russia]].

The term has also been applied to many modern dictators, often of a [[Communist]] viewpoint.  [[Joseph Stalin]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lWcVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 Popular Opinion in Totalitarian Regimes: Fascism, Nazism, Communism]</ref> [[Fidel Castro]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o4G8SlNUROoC&pg=PA14 The Political Economy of Dictatorship]</ref> [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=l40eAQAAMAAJ&dq=Enlightened+despotism Contesting Democracy: Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe]</ref> [[Napoleon Bonaparte]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rqe1UU6OiIUC&pg=PA4 France Under Napoleon]</ref> [[Mussolini]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EX3JAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 Mussolini]</ref> and [[Josip Broz Tito]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Vq5KSDHvt1QC&q=Enlightened+despotism+broz+tito&dq=Enlightened+despotism+broz+tito&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqp42Rgc7VAhURayYKHahGB58Q6AEILDAB Josip Broz Tito]</ref>

The term has also been applied to many modern dictators, often of a [[Communist]] viewpoint.  [[Joseph Stalin]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lWcVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 Popular Opinion in Totalitarian Regimes: Fascism, Nazism, Communism]</ref> [[Fidel Castro]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o4G8SlNUROoC&pg=PA14 The Political Economy of Dictatorship]</ref> [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=l40eAQAAMAAJ&dq=Enlightened+despotism Contesting Democracy: Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe]</ref> [[Napoleon Bonaparte]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rqe1UU6OiIUC&pg=PA4 France Under Napoleon]</ref> [[Mussolini]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EX3JAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 Mussolini]</ref> and [[Josip Broz Tito]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Vq5KSDHvt1QC&q=Enlightened+despotism+broz+tito&dq=Enlightened+despotism+broz+tito&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqp42Rgc7VAhURayYKHahGB58Q6AEILDAB Josip Broz Tito]</ref>