A comparative study of the nature and development of absolutist states, their political predecessors and opponents in Europe (France, England, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, Austria, Russia) as well as in the Islamic world and Japan.

The political regime of absolute monarchy is the new political form required for the maintenance of feudal dominance and exploitation at a time of the development of a commodity economy, cities, and the bourgeoisie.

The absolutist state - which was never an arbitrator between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, nor an instrument of the bourgeoisie against the aristocracy - was in fact the new political cover for the terrified nobility.