Sound familiar? Coming soon to a State near you. An oligarchy is a form of government in which most of the political power effectively rests with a small segment of society, typically the people who have the most wealth, military strength, ruthlessness or political influence. The word oligarchy from the Greek words olígos, which means few, and archo, which means to rule. Some political theorists have argued that all societies are inevitably oligarchies, regardless of their supposed political system. How Oligarchies Form Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and mentored to become inheritors of power, often at some sort of expense to those governed. In contrast with aristocracy — or government by the best — this power might not always be exercised openly, with some oligarchs preferring to remain the power behind the throne, exerting their control through economic means. Unlike plutocracy, oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, either, because oligarchs can simply be a privileged cadre. It also has been suggested that most communist states fit the definition of oligarchies.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:56:43 +0000
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