I meant an absolutist monarchy. This is really a dying form, though not yet totally dead.
Paradoxically, republics of today seem more vulnerable to authoritarian turns than the monarchies which survived the 20th century.
Probably because an elected leader has more legitimacy and thus can demand more political power, sometimes too much power. In a constitutional monarchy, there is always a psychological split between the sovereign and the prime minister or whoever gets elected to executive power, and one-man-shows are less likely to succeed.
