Absolutism and Constitutionalism
What you must understand
This domain contrasts centralizing monarchy with limited government. Absolutism rests on claims of divine right, a standing army, a professional bureaucracy, control of taxation, and subordination of nobles (e.g., Louis XIV's Versailles and intendants). Constitutionalism rests on representative institutions, legal limits, and shared taxation authority - England's Parliament, the Dutch Republic's provincial estates, and the Polish nobility's elective monarchy (a weak-state counterexample).
Key events: the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the Glorious Revolution (1688) and Bill of Rights (1689), and the development of John Locke's contractual theory. On the continent, compare Louis XIV's France with Prussia's militarized efficiency and Austria's multiethnic Habsburg state. Also understand mercantilism and Colbert's economic policies as tools of state power.
Traps
- Absolutism was rarely total; local elites, courts, and tax exemptions persisted.
- Constitutionalism does not mean democracy; suffrage remained narrow.
- Do not date the Glorious Revolution as a social revolution; it was largely elite and bloodless.
- Distinguish divine right (a claim) from actual administrative capacity.
Rule of thumb
Compare states on four levers: taxation, army, bureaucracy, and representative assembly. Whoever controls taxation controls the state.