Oriental despotism is a despotic form of government that runs counter to the western tradition in some way or other. Historically, the term's meaning has varied and today it is hardly ever used at all, largely because of all the issues surrounding the concept of orientalism.
Read more about Oriental Despotism: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Marxist Ontology
Famous quotes containing the words oriental and/or despotism:
“The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to; and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It only assigns their due rank respectively to Action and Contemplation, or rather does full justice to the latter. Western philosophers have not conceived of the significance of Contemplation in their sense.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty, in a feather-bed.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)