In early thirteenth-century England, King John had few formal limits on his power yet needed the permission of the Catholic pope to marry many of his potential spouses and needed the cooperation of English nobles to wage war. A general term for a political system with informal limits on power is

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An authoritarian government is characterized by informal limits on power, such as the need for cooperation or permission from other entities or individuals, despite the central authority having significant control. This contrasts with a totalitarian system where the government seeks to control every aspect of public and private life, and with teleological or indirect government concepts, which do not specifically describe systems with informal limits on power.

In Early Thirteenth-Century England, King John Had Few Formal Limits