usurper
{{Short description|Illegitimate or controversial claimant to state power}}
{{Redirect2|Usurp|Usurpation|other uses|Usurper (disambiguation)}}
{{For|a list|List of usurpers}}
A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy.{{cite journal |title=The Usurpation of Richard the Third » 31 Jul 1936 » The Spectator Archive |journal=The Spectator Archive |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/31st-july-1936/29/the-usurpation-of-richard-the-third}}{{cite journal |last1=Levine |first1=Mortimer |title=Richard III – Usurper or Lawful King? |journal=Speculum |date=1959 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=391–401 |doi=10.2307/2850815 |jstor=2850815 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2850815 |issn=0038-7134|url-access=subscription }} In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as one's own.{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/usurper|title=Definition of USURPER|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-22}} Usurpers can rise to power in a region by often unexpected physical force such as via a coup d'état, as well as through political influence and deceit."[https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/nicol-s-maduro-usurper/ In the end, usurpers accumulate power by taking it from the other State institutions, either by minimizing the role of the legislative power, or undermining the independence of the judiciary.]", openDemocracy
Etymology
The word originally came from the Latin word usurpare (“to seize", "to take forcefully" or "to use”).{{Cite CD.com|usurp|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-30}}
Politics
The Greeks had their own conception of what usurpers were, calling them tyrants.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=viBOKgmt8LkC&q=usurper%20tyrannos%20pericles&pg=PA250|title=Pericles Of Athens And The Birth Of Democracy|last=Kagan|first=Donald|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780684863955|pages=250|language=en|date=1998}} In the ancient Greek usage, a tyrant (tyrannos/τύραννος in Greek) was an individual who rose to power via unconstitutional or illegitimate means, usually not being an heir to an existing throne. Such individuals were perceived negatively by political philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.{{Cite web|url=https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1497|title=The Republic, by Plato|website=gutenberg.org|access-date=2019-10-05}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mEwLXFyp0ccC&q=aristotle%20politics&pg=PA169|title=The Politics, Book 5, Chapter 10|last=Aristotle|date=2010|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226026701|language=en}}
Usurpers often try to legitimize their position by claiming to be a descendant of a ruler that they may or may not be related to. According to Herodotus, this was done by someone impersonating Smerdis in order to seize the throne of Cyrus the Great after his death.Herodotus, The Histories Book 3, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3c*.html 61–79]
The concept of usurpation played a huge role in the governance of monarchies, often carrying disdain to those who have been accused of it."Whilst Henry possessed all the qualities necessary to be a successful medieval king, his path to kingship as a usurpation rather than a hereditary succession would cast doubt over his legitimacy for the entirety of his rule." – [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Henry-IV/ HistoricUK] Lengthy advice was given to potential and actual usurpers by the political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli in his book The Prince.{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HicLAQAAIAAJ | title=The Statecraft of Machiavelli | last1=Butterfield | first1=Herbert | date=1962 }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oi2GDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 | title=Thoughts on Machiavelli | isbn=9780226230979 | last1=Strauss | first1=Leo | date=2014 | publisher=University of Chicago Press }} Methods discussed were pertinent to the establishment of a more secure principality for the ruler, which Machiavelli stated would require evil to be done at some point.The Prince, chap. 15 (end)
See also
Further reading
- {{cite journal|last=Key|first=T. Hewitt|author-link=Thomas Hewitt Key|title=On the Derivation and Meaning of the Latin Verb usurpare|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=106|year=1855|issue=8|ref=Key}}
References
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{{Authority control}}
Category:Positions of authority
Category:Political terminology
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