To establish or rule with absolute power like a Caesar; to create a system of absolute single-ruler authority.
From Caesar + -ize (suffix meaning 'to make' or 'to cause to become'). This verb form allowed political theorists to describe the process of becoming or creating authoritarian rule.
What's fascinating is that 'caesarize' appears in 19th-century political texts as a verb of warning—authors used it to describe how democracies could 'caesarize' themselves by concentrating power, a concern that echoes today.
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