Oriental despotism is a despotic form of government that runs counter to the western tradition in some way or other. Historically, the term's meaning has varied and today it is hardly ever used at all, largely because of all the issues surrounding the concept of orientalism.
Read more about Oriental Despotism: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Marxist Ontology
Famous quotes containing the words oriental and/or despotism:
“Behold the difference between the Oriental and the Occidental. The former has nothing to do in this world; the latter is full of activity. The one looks in the sun until his eyes are put out; the other follows him prone in his westward course.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty, in a feather-bed.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)