Autocracy

Autocracy is a form of government in which unlimited power is held by a single individual. An emperor may rise to power through heredity, but is referred to as an autocrat rather than a monarch when his power overshadows his bloodline.

The term autocrat is derived from the Greek word autokratôr (lit. "self-ruler", "ruler of one's self"). Today it is usually seen as synonymous to despot, tyrant and/or dictator, though each of these terms originally had a separate and distinct meaning (see their respective articles).

Autocracy and monocracy are considered synonyms by most dictionaries, although the term monocracy is more often used to refer to a form of government ruled by a monarch rather than any single ruler.

The principal titles of what modern historians call the " Roman emperors" were imperator, Caesar, and Augustus; the latter two words were transliterated into Greek as kaisar and augoustos, while the existing word autokratôr was substituted for the former. When the Emperor Heraclius introduced the "Byzantine" system of co-emperors, the senior emperor (or, in the absence of a co-emperor, the sole emperor) took the title autokratôr, although the junior emperor also began to take that title in the 14th century under the Palaeologi.

In keeping with the contention of the rulers of Imperial Russia that Moscow was " Third Rome" (after Constantinople and Rome), the formal title of the Russian Tsar was Imperator i Samodyerzhets Vserossiysky ("All-Russian Emperor and Autocrat"). The absolutist rule of the Russian Tsars is probably chiefly responsible for the modern meaning of the words "autocrat" and "autocracy".

Compare with oligarchy (rule by a minority, by a small group) and democracy (rule by the majority, by the people).