I came across this excerpt from Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution by Albert Venn Dicey (1835-1922) . It raises an interesting point about the limitations on a despot's exercise of power.
"The internal limit to the exercise of sovereignty arises from the nature of the sovereign power itself. Even a despot exercises his powers in accordance with his character, which is itself moulded by the circumstance under which he lives, including under that head the moral feelings of the time and the society to which he belongs. The Sultan could not, if he would, change the religion of the Mohammedan world, but even if he could do so, it is in the very highest degree improbable that the head of Mohammedanism should wish to overthrow the religion of Mohammed; the internal check on the exercise of the Sultan's power is at least as strong as the external limitation. People sometimes ask the idle question, why the Pope does not introduce this or that reform? The true answer is that a revolutionist is not the kind of man who becomes a Pope and that a man who becomes a Pope has no wish to be a revolutionist."
I guess some of my "pinko" American friends would love to extend the analogy to Bush and GOP. I replaced "Sultan" with Musharaff and "Muhammadenism" with "Pakistan Army".. and tried reading the passage. Chilling read. :)
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