POL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Absolute Monarchy, Autocracy
Document Summary
Politics, 7-8: polity is the best alternative in the world that we know, polity is something to shoot for in the world of politics as usual when we don"t have access to extraordinary resources, education, natural talent. Good regime for ordinary people: stability is ensured by its properly mixed institutions. Looked like neither oligarchy nor democracy, but had an appropriate mixture so no one wanted a regime change: polity is different from its incorrect, deviant counterpart democracy. Interest of the common good rather than people"s own interest: democracy has many negative features according to aristotle. Kingship pambasileia (absolute monarchy: at its best it is the best regime, but it is the least achievable, aristotle points out that many different forms are taken of kingship (and all regimes) Where the laws are not sovereign, there is no regime, aristotle says in book 4.
