science

Sultanism

Sultanism is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sultanism rather than just read about it. In short: In political science, sultanism is a form of authoritarian government characterized by the extreme personal presence of the ruler in all elements of governance. The ruler may or may not be present in economic or social life, and thus there may be pluralism in these areas, but this is never true of political power.

Key takeaways

Sultanism belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sultanism to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sultanism from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In political science, sultanism is a form of authoritarian government characterized by the extreme personal presence of the ruler in all elements of governance. The ruler may or may not be present in economic or social life, and thus there may be pluralism in these areas, but this is never true of political power. The term sultanism is derived from sultan, a title used in Muslim societies for a secular sovereign or monarch, often in contrast with the religious title of caliph. In modern scholarly usage, sultanism is not limited to Muslim or Middle Eastern societies. In 1996, Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan listed the clearest examples of sultanism as "Haiti under the Duvaliers, the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, the Central African Republic under Bokassa, the Philippines under Marcos, Romania under Ceaușescu, Iraq under Hussein and North Korea under Kim Il Sung". According to Linz and Stepan:

[T]he essential reality in a sultanistic regime is that all individuals, groups and institutions are permanently subject to the unpredictable and despotic intervention of the sultan, and thus all pluralism is precarious In sultanism, the sultan may or may not adopt a ruling ideology, but he is never bound by any rules or given ideology, even his own. The sultan may also use whatever forces he can to exercise his personal will, such as paramilitaries or gangs as stated by Max Weber in Economy and Society:

[I]n the extreme case, Sultanism tend[s] to arise whenever traditional domination develops an administration and a military force which are purely instruments of the master. [...] Where domination [...] operates primarily on the basis of discretion, it will be called sultanism. [...] The non-traditional element is not, however, rationalized in impersonal terms, but consists only in the extreme development of the ruler's discretion. It is this which distinguishes it from every form of rational authority.

See also Absolute monarchy Caliphate Cult of personality Despotism Dictatorship Monarchy Sultanate Tyranny

References

Further reading Eke, Steven M.; Taras Kuzio (May 2000). "Sultanism in Eastern Europe: The Socio-Political Roots of Authoritarian Populism in Belarus". Europe-Asia Studies. 52 (3): 523–547. doi:10.1080/713663061. S2CID 153583106. Guliyev, Farid (2005). "Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: Transition to Sultanistic Semiauthoritarianism? An Attempt at Conceptualization". Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 13 (3): 393–435.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sultanism

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sultanism claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sultanism before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sultanism ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sultanism

In research: Sultanism appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sultanism in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sultanism is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Authoritarianism, Political theories, Social philosophy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sultanism outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sultanism in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sultanism means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sultanism out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sultanism in simple terms?

Why does Sultanism matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sultanism?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sultanism.