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{{Short description|Political philosophy inspired by Caesar}}{{Multiple issues|{{Expand French|Césarisme|date=June 2022}}{{Expand Italian|Cesarismo|date=June 2022}}{{Expand Spanish|Cesarismo|date=June 2022}}}}File:Rimini083.jpg|thumb|right|220px|A statue of Julius Caesar, in the city of RiminiRiminiIn political science, the term Caesarism identifies and describes an authoritarian and autocratic ideology inspired by Julius Caesar, the dictator of Rome, from 49 BC to 44 BC.WEB,weblink Caesarism, The Free Dictionary,

History

The German historian Johann Friedrich Böhmer first used the term Caesarism in 1846, to describe the state's political subordination of the Roman Catholic Church.BOOK,weblink Caesarism, Charisma and Fate: Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber, Peter, Baehr, 32–35, Transaction Publishers, 2009, 978-1-4128-0813-2, In 1850, Auguste Romieu defined Caesarism as the military rule and régime of a warlord. The sociologist Peter Baehr said that "following Romieu's polemic, "Caesarism". . . [Caesarism] gained vogue [-word] status". In 1857, the religious writer Orestes Brownson used the term Caesarism to mean rule and régime of absolute monarchy. In 1858, the mainstream usage of the term occurs in a Westminster Review article of political criticism about the "clumsy eulogies of Caesarism as [being] incarnate in the dynasty of Bonaparte".As an admirer of Julius Caesar, Napoléon Bonaparte espoused Caesarism as a justification of his rule and régime of France.{{sfn|Baehr|2009|page=54}} Napoleon III's policy under the Second French Empire, which combined an authoritarian regime and a proactive social policy, notably with the Ollivier law of 1864, can be described as a form of "social Caesarism".BOOK, Cyrille, Ferraton, :fr:Cyrille Ferraton, Associations et coopératives, Une autre histoire économique, fr, Associations and cooperatives, Another economic story, ERES, 2007, 116, According to historian {{ill|Louis Girard (historian)|fr|Louis Girard}}, this policy aims in particular to rally the workers to the regime in the face of hostile liberal bosses.JOURNAL, Louis, Girard, :fr:Louis Girard, Les élections de 1869, fr, The elections of 1869, Revue d'Histoire du xixe siècle - 1848, 21, 1, 1960, X,weblink Benjamin Disraeli was accused of Caesarism in March 1878 when, in anticipation of war with Russia, he mobilised British reserves and called Indian troops to Malta. G. K. Chesterton made one of the most ringing denunciations of Caesarism in his work Heretics, calling it "the worst form of slavery".WEB,weblink Heretics, G.K., Chesterton, G. K. Chesterton, Sociologist Max Weber believed that every mass democracy went in a Caesarist direction. Professor of law Gerhard Casper writes, "Weber employed the term to stress, inter alia, the plebiscitary character of elections, disdain for parliament, the non-toleration of autonomous powers within the government and a failure to attract or suffer independent political minds."WEB,weblink Caesarism in Democratic Politics: Reflections on Max Weber,

20th century

A so-called "democratic" form of Caesarism has been advocated by theorists like Venezuela's Laureano Vallenilla Lanz in Cesarismo Democrático (1919).BOOK, von Vacano, Diego A., The Color of Citizenship: Race, Modernity and Latin American / Hispanic Political Thought, Oxford University Press, 2012, Oxford, UK, 9780199746668, 83–111,weblink Italian Duce Benito Mussolini and the ideology of Italian Fascism espoused Caesarism.BOOK, Emilio, Gentile, Emilio Gentile,weblink The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism, Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Publishers, 2003, 137–138, 9780275976927, Antonio Gramsci stated that the roots of Caesarism lie at the level of a "crisis of authority," which is also a crisis of representation that occurs when social groups no longer identify with political parties. These then become anachronistic, allowing a Caesarist solution to emerge. In the Italian case, Gramsci locates the causes of this socio-political disintegration in the destabilizing experience of the First World War, where the large peasant masses were forced to fight. At the same time, they had been passive during the Risorgimento. Caesarism is a macro-social phenomenon and cannot be driven by the emergence of an individual; this phenomenon, therefore, fulfills a political function. Furthermore, Gramsci evokes the possibility of a "Caesarism without Caesar" but implemented by a group like the British National Government bringing together the Conservatives and Labour.BOOK, George, Hoare, An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy Paperback, 2015, Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury Academic, 978-1472572769, 58–59, Oswald Spengler described Caeserism as a final phase of modernity that would succeed democracy.

21st century

According to French historian Christian-Georges Schwentzel in the 21st century, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan partly took over this Caesarean model by adapting it, responding at the same time to a desire for authority and grandeur emanating from their peoples.NEWS, Trump, Poutine, Erdogan: le désir d'autorité a un précédent: Jules César, fr, Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Caesars of the 21st century, Christian-Georges, Schwentzel, :fr:Christian-Georges Schwentzel, Slate (magazine), Slate, 24 January 2017,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170126071044weblink">weblink 26 January 2017, 13 June 2022, live, BOOK, Christian-Georges, Schwentzel, :fr:Christian-Georges Schwentzel, La Fabrique des Chefs, d'Akhenaton à Donald Trump, fr, The Fabric of Leaders, from Akhenaten to Donald Trump, Paris, Vendémiaire, 2017, 978-2-36358-252-2, 160–164, In the 2020s, parts of the American right-wing, especially those associated with the Claremont Institute think tank, have advocated for Caesarism as an authoritarian solution to problems facing the US.NEWS, Wilson, Jason, 'Red Caesarism' is rightwing code – and some Republicans are listening,weblink The Guardian, October 1, 2023,

See also

• Bonapartism
• Caudillo
• Caesaropapism
• Cult of personality
• Italian Fascism
• Stratocracy
• Strongman (politics)
• Third Rome

References

{{reflist}}{{Julius Caesar|state=collapsed}}{{Authority control}}