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:
“The Persians are called the French of the East; we will call the Arabs Oriental Italians. A gifted noble people; a people of wild strong feelings, and of iron restraint over these: the characteristic of noblemindedness, of genius.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“Under a Presidential government, a nation has, except at the electing moment, no influence; it has not the ballot-box before it; its virtue is gone, and it must wait till its instant of despotism again returns.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)