Ancien Régime
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An Ancien Régime is a pre-revolutionary political system characterized by hereditary monarchy, aristocratic privilege, and corporate social orders.
- AKA: Old Regime, Pre-Revolutionary Order, Traditional Monarchical System, Estate-Based Political System.
- Context:
- It can typically feature three estates: clergy, nobility, and commoners with distinct legal statuses.
- It can often maintain power through divine right monarchy, feudal obligations, and customary law.
- It can frequently face challenges from enlightenment ideas, bourgeois aspirations, and popular discontent.
- It can represent what revolutionary movements seek to overthrow in favor of rational government.
- It can range from being an Absolute Ancien Régime to being a Constitutional Ancien Régime, depending on monarchical power.
- It can range from being a Centralized Ancien Régime to being a Decentralized Ancien Régime, depending on administrative structure.
- It can range from being a Rigid Ancien Régime to being a Reformist Ancien Régime, depending on adaptation capacity.
- It can range from being a Stable Ancien Régime to being a Crisis-Ridden Ancien Régime, depending on systemic tensions.
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- Examples:
- French Ancien Régime before 1789, with Louis XVI and the Estates-General.
- Spanish Ancien Régime before liberal revolutions.
- Russian Ancien Régime under Tsarist Autocracy before 1917.
- Portuguese Ancien Régime before the Liberal Wars.
- Austrian Ancien Régime under the Habsburg Monarchy.
- ...
- Counter-Examples:
- Constitutional Democracy, based on popular sovereignty and legal equality.
- Republic, rejecting hereditary rule for elected government.
- Nation-State, organizing around national identity rather than estate hierarchy.
- Socialist System, abolishing class privilege for social equality.
- See: Political System, Monarchy, Feudal System, French Revolution, Estate System, Divine Right of Kings, Aristocracy, Pre-Modern Political Order, Revolutionary Movement, Three Estates.