Abstract
The Patrimonial-Bureaucratic Empire is a pre-modern state
model. As an ideal type, this model does not reflect the working of any
actual state, but presents a catalogue of elements drawn from existing
situations. Max Weber considers patrimonialism as a form of
government centered on family structures, particularly on the authority
of fathers in families. It is a form of political domination in which
authority rests on the personal and bureaucratic power exercised by a
royal household, where that power is formally arbitrary and under the
direct control of the ruler.
