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Oligarchy is a political system where a small group of individuals are the collective rulers, usually indirectly through lobbying a head of state, though this group can rule directly in some cases. This group may or may not be distinguished from the masses by one or several traits such as Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination age and/or Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination wealth.

History

First definitions

Oligarchy's history can be remoted to the start of the civilizations as we know it, and it was first mentioned by Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle defined it as a degenerative form of Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Aristocracy, while Plato argued oligarchy will arise when the succession of an aristocratic system is perpetuated by blood or mythical transfer, without the ethical and managerial qualities of the best arising on their own merit, contrary to Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Meritocracy. Basically a step to degenerate into a Tyranny.

The first oligarchies that are documented appeared in Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Ancient Greece, such examples could be shown as the Thirty Tyrants of Athens or the Spartan system of "rotating" ephors, which limited the power of the kings. Which was heavily criticised by Plato and Aristotle. However, the widespread opinion in his time about the need for a property qualification in the election of the most worthy — as it happened in Carthage — Aristotle also rejected it because of the actual " purchase of power».

Aristotle defined the Oligarchy in four types:

  • When a moderate property is in the hands of the majority, by virtue of which the owners have the opportunity to take part in the government, and since the number of such people is large, the supreme power is inevitably in the hands of the law, not of the people. For to the extent that they are far from the monarchy if their property is not so large that they can enjoy their leisure without care, and not so insignificant that they need the support of the state-they will inevitably demand that the law should rule over them, and not themselves.
  • The number of people who own property is less than the number of people in the first type of oligarchy, but the size of the property itself is greater. Having a large economic resource, these owners also make more political demands. Therefore, they themselves choose from among the other citizens who are allowed to govern the state. But because they are not yet strong enough to govern without the application of the law, they establish a law suitable for them. If the situation becomes tenser in the sense that the number of owners decreases, and the amount of property in the hands of each individual such owner increases.
  • All offices are concentrated in the hands of the proprietors, and the law commands that, after their death, their sons succeed them in office.
  • When their property grows to an enormous size and they acquire a mass of supporters, it turns out a dynastic oligarchy, close to the monarchy, and then the rulers become people-oligarchs and not the law — this is the fourth type of oligarchy, corresponding to the extreme type of degenerate aristocracy.

Oligarchy is inherently related to Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Plutocracy, and can thus be considered a subtype of it.

Modern definition

Oligarchy was very unknown until the Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination French Revolution, when they redefined the term in of "the rule of few" to "the merge of the political and economic power". Intellectuals talked explained about the harmfulness of this phenomenon by the fact that such a merger leads to corruption, unfair competition and monopolism, which in turn undermines the country's economy and makes it weak and uncompetitive at the international level. Under an oligarchy, prices rise and the quality of products falls, as economic competitors within the country are suppressed by the oligarchs by political means in the interests of their own factories. Since then, the term oligarchy has been regularly used in an expanded sense. Robert Michels formulated in 1911 the "Iron law of Oligarchy" which formulated that democracy is impossible and all will go to an Oligarchy.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Soviet political-economic writers recoined the modern definition of the rule of the narrow group of people as rich or elderly.

Modern oligarchies

Princeton University made a study of the analysis of the government programmes and made the decision that the Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination the USA had converted from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, where elections became just a ceremonial procedure. The top 1% of the U.S. population by wealth in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928. In 2011, according to PolitiFact and others, the top 400 wealthiest Americans "have more wealth than half of all Americans combined." thus, they had a big power in American Politics in the Senate.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Russia

Russia after 1991 remains a remarkable example of an oligarchy, like the Semibankirschina, or the rule of the seven bank leaders' name that contrasted it with the Seven Boyars power. The power of those is so big that they control the newspapers and even some people as Sergei Mavrodi, retained more power than the state. In the 2000s the Oligarchs still controlled most of the state enterprises and economy, even though in 2020, Dmitri Peskov claimed that "there are no oligarchs in Russia". Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Putin largely maintains the oligarchies and has a mutually good relationship with them.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Ukraine

Ukraine's situation is similar to that of Russia, as business oligarchs have a big political influence. The oligarchs' influence on the Ukrainian Government is extreme but is waning. The notable people include, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Dmytro Firtash, etc. Overall, there are about 35 oligarch groups. In 2011 and even to this day some analysts and Ukrainian politicians believe that some Ukrainian business tycoons have extremely close relations with Russia. In 2008, the combined wealth of Ukraine's 50 richest oligarchs was equal to 85% of the country's GDP, by end of 2013, the number was 45%. In 2021, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that formally defined an oligarch:

People who fit those criteria are prohibited from buying privatized assets and giving campaign donations. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Petro Poroshenko left the oligarch list by selling his media. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Viktor Medvedchuk's channels were shut down on the unrelated offence of promoting Russophilia, while his property was seized and he is now under arrest due to accusations of treason. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Rinat Akhmetov left the list by "voluntarily" handing over his media to the state.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Malaysia

Malaysia during Mahathir's Seventh Cabinet (2018-2020) consisted of a five-member advisory team called "Council of Eminent Persons" (CEP) or "Council of Elders" (Malay: Majlis Penasihat Kerajaan, literally Government Advisory Council), which is similar to an oligarch system that advises the Government of Malaysia. The Council consists of Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Daim Zainuddin, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Zeti Akthar Aziz, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Robert Kwok Hok Nien, Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Hassan Marican.

Variants

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Triarchy Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination

WIP

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Tetrarchy

WIP

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Pentarchy

WIP

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Briukovetskyism

WIP

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Coronelismo

Coronelismo was a political phenomenon that emerged in Brazil during the Old Republic era, which lasted from 1889 to 1930. It was a system characterized by the concentration of power in the hands of wealthy landowners, known as "coronéis" (colonels), who controlled local politics in their regions. The colonels used their political influence to maintain their economic interests, which often included exploiting the rural population and its ignorance.

The power of the colonels was based on a network of patronage, in which they would provide favors and benefits to their supporters in exchange for political loyalty. This system created a cycle of corruption and nepotism, in which only those who were loyal to the colonels could access public positions and resources. As a result, there was little room for political opposition, and the majority of the population was prohibited from participating in the political process.

Coronelismo was a major obstacle to the democratization of Brazil. It was only with the 1930 Revolution and the autocratic goverment of Getúlio Vargas that the power of the colonels were extremely diminished, and the dynamics of Brazilian politics were changed. Today, coronelismo has been almost eradicated, but its legacy can still be felt in some isolated regions, where local power structures are dominated by rural oligarchies and traditional elites.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Collective Leadership

Beliefs

Most people who believe in Oligarchical forms of government generally belief that an Oligarchy is inescapable and natural.

This is belief is backed by commonly seen statistical phenomena as the Pareto principle and the less scientific Sturgeon's Law. With Pareto principle being the principle stating that within most given scenarios 20% of the population will be responsible for 80% of the productivity, and Sturgeon's law being the general rule that around 90% of any given selection will be of low quality (which can be applied to people and their ability or desire to rule others).

The Pareto principle can be seen in the polcompball community, with 20% of users receiving 90% of upvotes(though this data may be out of date now).

Another example of statistical likelihood of Oligarchical systems to emerge is Robert Michel's Iron Law of Oligarchy, which is a rule stating that fundamentally all large organisations are oligarchical in nature and any attempt at getting rid of such a structure fundamentally (such as done in Socialist Parties and Trade Unions) only ends up re-enforcing it.

Other justifications for oligarchy include believing that no one man should have all the power or wanting representation of several groups at once.

How to Draw

Flag of Oligarchy
  1. Draw a ball
  2. Colour it yellow
  3. Draw 6 red circles at the vertices of an imaginary hexagon
  4. Add one eye
  5. For the second eye, draw a monocle
  6. You are finished

Relationships

Friends

Frenemies

Enemies

Further Information

Literature

Wikipedia

Videos

Gallery

Comics

Portraits and Artwork

  • Original portrait

    Original portrait

  • Alt design

    Alt design

  • Coronelismo

    Coronelismo

  • Credit: K-Tech, Source

    Credit: K-Tech, Source

  • Credit: u/Eu_Sou_BR, Source

    Credit: u/Eu_Sou_BR, Source

Citations

  1. ↑ [1], CIA.gov.

Navigation

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