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Oligarchy (from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía) 'rule by few'; from ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and ἄρχω (árkhō) 'to rule, command') [1] [2] [3] is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people.
The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory first developed by the German-born Italian sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book Political Parties. [1] It asserts that rule by an elite, or oligarchy , is inevitable as an "iron law" within any democratic organization as part of the "tactical and technical necessities" of the organization.
Oligarchy: Oligarchy, meaning "rule of the few", is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or corporate, religious or military control.
But unlike an aristocracy, an oligarchy is more closely tied to wealth than nobility and family lineage. The philosopher Aristotle wrote in his book “Politics” that “democracy is safer and more free from civil strife than oligarchy; for in oligarchies two kinds of strife spring up, faction between different members of the oligarchy and ...
WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden delivered a vigorous defense of his record and warned of an American "oligarchy" in a primetime address from the Oval Office as he bid farewell to four years in ...
Solon introduced the ideas of timokratia as a graded oligarchy in his Solonian Constitution for Athens in the early 6th century BC. His was the first known deliberately implemented form of timocracy, allocating political rights and economic responsibility depending on membership of one of four tiers of the population.
In short, an oligarchy is an elite few who control the government's actions. By using the pointedly negative term “oligarchy,” Biden equated this moment — when the world's wealthiest men are feting President-elect Donald Trump — with some of history's more brutal regimes.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of an oligarchy gaining power as he delivered his farewell address and brought a decades-long career in politics to an end.