PATERNALISM. – Paternalistic is called any policy directed from above (emperor, king, lord) that takes into account the needs of the “subjects”: whether in classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, or the Renaissance, the myth of the good ruler of the State, understanding and “fatherly,” has taken shape. In the age of the Counter-Reformation, the problem comes to the fore again with the theorists of raison d’état (v.); among others, Bellarmine sets forth precise formulations on the necessity that princes have to love all their subjects with a “serving” and “fatherly” charity so that they are not unjustly burdened (cf. *De officio principis christiani*, Rome 1619).
Taking into account the differences from previous techniques and practical applications, the eighteenth-century movement of enlightened despotism must also be regarded as paternalistic. Enlightened despotism arises and strengthens in the broader climate of the “Enlightenment,” both through a movement from below determined by the economic-social strengthening of the middle class and by the vast array of reformist writers who express the new ideological demands on the level of public opinion. Despotism and Enlightenment in their essence do not exclude each other: in enlightened despotism, the element that prevails is still the despotic one, but it is “enlightened,” that is, subjected to the law of *Raison* in the political-administrative and economic-social sphere. The reforming princes are in favor of physiocracy, of tax and customs reform, and of jurisdictionalism. Naturally, not all theories are rigorously or comprehensively applied in practice: Maria Theresa of Austria stands for economic reforms; her son Joseph II is more concerned with jurisdictionalism and even religious reform; Frederick II of Prussia is in practice more “sovereign” than a man of the “Enlightenment” (or at least he is an enlightener in penal law, religious tolerance, and culture but not in military absolutism); Catherine II of Russia leans toward economic reformism; Leopold I of Tuscany toward physiocracy and jurisdictionalism; Charles III of Bourbon toward social reformism and jurisdictionalism, “and so on.” The eighteenth-century paternalism was such a broad movement that in certain sectors it even affected the Republic of Venice, that of Genoa, and the Papal States themselves.
After the 18th century, the word paternalism has sometimes been used “from above” to mask or justify political movements or activities of rulers with a substantially conservative, reactionary, or dictatorial background.