Specifics of absolutism as a special form of government

The article deals with the problems of the study of absolutism as a specific form of government, which has a universal character. The review of the main approaches to the study of absolutism in historical and legal aspects is given. The article highlights the key features that indicate the formation of an absolute monarchy in our country, in particular, the consolidation of orders, the transformation of the controlling authorities, the intensive processes of secularization of spiritual life, which gave the most important prerequisite for the formation of a new type of power - a purely secular, with a rationalist justification, which does not have sacralisation as a key characteristic of the legitimacy of the ruler. In this regard, the article analyzes the main differences between the class-representative and absolute monarchies in the national history of state and law. The features of absolutism - both classical and specific, inherent in our country. Such a major problem as the social base of power is considered in particular, which also significantly distinguished the domestic and Western European absolute monarchies. In particular, the social base of absolutism in Western countries was originally bureaucracy, largely formed by the Union with urban bourgeois circles. In our country, the bourgeoisie was initially weak and could not be of serious interest as a social force for the government. Therefore, the main support of absolutism in our country was the nobility, class registration which falls just for the period of the 18th century. In the 19th century bureaucracy became the social base of absolute monarchy in the Russian Empire. The article also deals with the problems of succession to the throne in the 18th century - as one of the most striking manifestations of the specifics of absolutism (in contrast to the class-representative monarchy). In addition, the classical forms of absolutism and their manifestations in relation to the domestic historical material are analyzed. In addition to the police and enlightened absolutism, the author proposes to highlight the transitional form, which combines the features of the two forms in a softer manner, but has more flexible characteristics and possibilities of adaptation to changing historical conditions.