1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Autocracy

AUTOCRACY (Gr. αὐτοκράτεια, absolute power), a term applied to that form of government which is absolute or irresponsible, and vested in one single person. It is a type of government usually found amongst eastern peoples; amongst more civilized nations the only example is that of Russia, where the sovereign assumes as a title “the autocrat of all the Russias.”