oligarchy

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An oligarchy (Greek Ὀλιγαρχία, Oligarkhía) is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military or religious hegemony. The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (ὀλίγος olígos) and "rule" (ἀρχή arkhē). Such states are often controlled by politically powerful families whose children are heavily conditioned and mentored to be heirs of the power of the oligarchy.^{[citation needed]} Oligarchies have been tyrannical throughout history, being completely reliant on public servitude to exist. Although Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group. Some city-states from Ancient Greece were oligarchies.

Oligarchy vs. monarchy

As early societies may have become oligarchies as an outgrowth of an alliance between rival tribal chieftains or as the result of a caste system. Oligarchies can often become instruments of transformation, by insisting that monarchs or dictators share power, thereby opening the door to power-sharing by other elements of society (while oligarchy means "the rule of the few," monarchy means "the rule of the one"). One example of power-sharing from one person to a larger group of persons occurred when English nobles banded together in 1215 to force a reluctant King John of England to sign the Magna Carta, a tacit recognition both of King John's waning political power and of the existence of an incipient oligarchy (the nobility). As English society continued to grow and develop, Magna Carta was repeatedly revised (1216, 1217, and 1225), guaranteeing greater rights to greater numbers of people, thus setting the stage for English constitutional monarchy. In an aristocracy, a small group of wealthy or socially prominent citizens control the government. Members of this high social class claim to be, or are considered by others to be superior to the other people because of family ties, social rank, wealth, or religious affiliation. The word "aristocracy" comes from the Greek term meaning rule by the best. Many aristocrats have inherited titles of nobility such as duke or baron.

Examples of oligarchies

Some examples include Vaishali, the First French Republic government under the Directory, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (only the nobility could vote). A modern example of oligarchy could be seen in South Africa during the 20th century. Here, the basic characteristics of oligarchy are particularly easy to observe, since the South African form of oligarchy was based on race. After the Second Boer War, a tacit agreement was reached between English- and Afrikaans-speaking whites. Together, they made up about twenty percent of the population, but this small percentage ruled the vast native population. Whites had access to virtually all the educational and trade opportunities, and they proceeded to deny this to the black majority even further than before. Although this process had been going on since the mid-18th century, after 1948 it became official government policy and became known worldwide as apartheid. This lasted until the arrival of democracy in South Africa in 1994, punctuated by the transition to a democratically-elected government dominated by the black majority.

The Iron Law of Oligarchy

Some authors, such as Zulma Riley, Keith Riley, Mathew Marquess, and Robert Michels, believe that any political system eventually evolves into an oligarchy. This theory is called the "iron law of oligarchy". According to this school of thought, modern democracies should be considered as elected oligarchies. In these systems, actual differences between viable political rivals are small, the oligarchic elite impose strict limits on what constitutes an 'acceptable' and 'respectable' political position, and politicians' careers depend heavily on unelected economic and media elites. The disadvantage of this position is that it is not falsifiable.^{[citation needed]} As a proposition, it cannot ever be evaluated as incorrect, hence the "iron law" aspect derived from the "any...eventually" aspect. Thus the popular phrase: there is only one political party, the 'incumbent' party.

See also

Government terms:

• Aristocracy
• Elitism
• Crony capitalism
• Democracy
• Dictatorship
• Forms of government
• Meritocracy
• Netocracy
• Oligopoly
• Plutocracy
• Political family
• Theocracy
• Timocracy
• Power behind the throne
• Russian oligarchs
• Fascism

Links to a recent Russian example of oligarchy:

• Boris Yeltsin.
• Boris Berezovsky.
• The Yukos oil company.
• Vasily Aleksanyan.
• Vladimir Gusinsky.
• Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Relevant authors:

• Vilfredo Pareto
• Gaetano Mosca
• Thomas R. Dye
• Robert Michels
• Plato
• Webster Tarpley

References

External links

• Online Text: Leonard Whibley, Greek Oligarchies: Their Character and Organisation (1869), still the only full-scale treatment of oligarchy in Classical Greece.