Oligarchy
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Oligarchy(fromAncient Greekὀλιγαρχία(oligarkhía)'rule by few'; fromὀλίγος(olígos)'few' andἄρχω(árkhō)'to rule, command')[1][2][3]is a conceptual form ofpower structurein whichpowerrests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such asnobility,fame,wealth,education,orcorporate,religious,political,ormilitarycontrol.
Throughout history, power structures considered to be oligarchies have often been viewed as coercive, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist.Aristotlepioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, contrasting it witharistocracy,arguing that oligarchy was the perverted form of aristocracy.[4]
Types
[edit]Minority rule
[edit]The consolidation of power by a dominant religious or ethnic minority can be considered a form of oligarchy.[5]Examples include South Africa during apartheid, Liberia under Americo-Liberians, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Rhodesia. In these cases, oligarchic rule was often tied to the legacy of colonialism.[5]
In the early 20th century,Robert Michelsexpanded on this idea in hisIron Law of OligarchyHe argued that even democracies, like all large organizations, tend to become oligarchic due to the necessity of dividing labor, which ultimately results in a ruling class focused on maintaining its power.
Putative oligarchies
[edit]Business groups may be considered oligarchies if they meet the following criteria:
- They are the largest private owners in the country.
- They possess sufficient political power to influence their own interests.
- The owners control multiple businesses, coordinating activities across sectors.[6]
Intellectual oligarchies
[edit]George Bernard Shawcoined the concept of an intellectual oligarchy in his playMajor Barbara(1907). In the play, Shaw criticizes the control of society by intellectual elites and expresses a desire for the empowerment of the common people:[7]
I now want to give the common man weapons against the intellectual man. I love the common people. I want to arm them against the lawyer, the doctor, the priest, the literary man, the professor, the artist, and the politician, who, once in authority, is the most dangerous, disastrous, and tyrannical of all the fools, rascals, and impostors. I want a democratic power strong enough to force the intellectual oligarchy to use its genius for the general good or else perish.
Countries perceived as oligarchies
[edit]Jeffrey A. WintersandBenjamin I. Pagehave described Colombia, Indonesia, Russia, Singapore and the United States as oligarchies.[8]
The Philippines
[edit]During thePresidency of Ferdinand Marcosfrom 1965 to 1986, several monopolies arose in the Philippines, primarily linked to theMarcos familyand their close associates. Analysts have described this period, and even subsequent decades, as an era of oligarchy in the Philippines.[9][10][11][12]
PresidentRodrigo Duterte,elected in 2016, promised to dismantle the oligarchy during his presidency.[13][12]However, corporate oligarchy persisted throughout his tenure. While Duterte criticized prominent tycoons such as theAyalasandManny Pangilinan,corporate figures allied with Duterte, includingDennis UyofUdenna Corporation,benefitted during his administration.[14]
Russian Federation
[edit]Since theDissolution of the Soviet Unionin 1991 and the subsequentPrivatizationof state-owned assets, a class of Russian oligarchs emerged. These oligarchs gained control of significant portions of the economy, especially in the energy, metals, and natural resources sectors.[15]Many of these individuals maintained close ties with government officials, particularly thepresident,leading some to characterize modern Russia as an oligarchy intertwined with the state.[16]
Iran
[edit]TheIslamic Republic of Iran,established after the 1979Iranian Revolution,is sometimes described as a clerical oligarchy. Its ruling system, known asVelayat-e-Faqih(Governance of the Jurist), places power in the hands of a small group of high-rankingShiaclerics, led by theSupreme Leader.This group holds significant influence over the country's legislative, military, and economic affairs, and critics argue that this system concentrates power in a religious elite, marginalizing other voices within society.[17][18]
Ukraine
[edit]Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, a powerful class of business elites, known asUkrainian oligarchs,has played a significant role in the country's politics and economy. These oligarchs gained control of state assets during the rapid privatization that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.[6]By 2021, Ukraine passed a law aimed at curbing oligarchic influence on politics and the economy.[19]
United States
[edit]
Several commentators and scholars have suggested that the United States demonstrates characteristics of an oligarchy, particularly in relation to the concentration of wealth and political influence among a small elite.[20][21][22][23][24](list of top donors)[25][26][27]
EconomistSimon Johnsonargued that the rise of an American financial oligarchy became particularly prominent following the 2008 financial crisis.[28]This financial elite has been described as wielding significant power over both the economy and political decisions.
Former PresidentJimmy Carterin 2015 characterized the United States as an "oligarchy with unlimited political bribery" following the 2010Citizens United v. FECSupreme Court decision, which removed limits on donations to political candidates.[29]
In 2014, a study by political scientistsMartin GilensofPrinceton UniversityandBenjamin PageofNorthwestern Universityargued that the United States' political system does not primarily reflect the preferences of its average citizens. Their analysis of policy outcomes between 1981 and 2002 suggested that wealthy individuals and business groups held substantial influence over political decisions, often sidelining the majority of Americans.[30]While the United States maintains democratic features such as regular elections, freedom of speech, and widespread suffrage, the study noted that policy decisions are disproportionately influenced by economic elites.[31]
However, the study received criticism from other scholars, who argued that the influence of average citizens should not be discounted and that the conclusions about oligarchic tendencies were overstated.[32]Gilens and Page defended their research, reiterating that while they do not label the United States an outright oligarchy, they found substantial evidence of economic elites dominating certain areas of policy-making.[33]
China
[edit]TheNational Geographic Society'sonline encyclopedia considers China to be an oligarchy.[34]
See also
[edit]- Aristocracy
- Cacique democracy
- Despotism
- Dictatorship
- Inverted totalitarianism
- Iron law of oligarchy
- Kleptocracy
- Meritocracy
- Military dictatorship
- Minoritarianism
- Nepotism
- Netocracy
- Oligopoly
- Oligarchical collectivism
- Parasitism
- Plutocracy
- Political family
- Power behind the throne
- The Power Elite(1956 book byC. Wright Mills)
- Polyarchy
- Stratocracy
- Synarchism
- Theocracy
- Timocracy
References
[edit]- ^"ὀλίγος",Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott,A Greek–English Lexicon,on Perseus Digital Library
- ^"ἄρχω",Liddell/Scott.
- ^"ὀλιγαρχία".Liddell/Scott.
- ^Winters (2011) pp. 26–28. "Aristotle writes that 'oligarchy is when men of property have the government in their hands... wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy'."
- ^abColeman, James; Rosberg, Carl (1966).Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa.Los Angeles:University of California Press.pp.681–683.ISBN978-0520002531.
- ^abChernenko, Demid (2018)."Capital structure and oligarch ownership"(PDF).Economic Change and Restructuring.52(4): 383–411.doi:10.1007/S10644-018-9226-9.S2CID56232563.
- ^Shaw, Bernard und Baziyan, Vitaly. 2-in-1: English-German. Major Barbara & Major in Barbara. New York, 2020,ISBN979-8692881076
- ^Winters, Jeffrey;Page, Benjamin(2009)."Oligarchy in the United States?".Perspectives on Politics.7(4) (published December 2009): 731–751.doi:10.1017/S1537592709991770.S2CID144432999.Retrieved12 March2022.
the concept of oligarchy can be fruitfully applied not only to places like Singapore, Colombia, Russia, and Indonesia, but also to the contemporary United States.
- ^Hutchcroft, Paul D. (April 1991)."Oligarchs and Cronies in the Philippine State the Politics of Patrimonial Plunder".World Politics.43(3): 414–450.doi:10.2307/2010401.ISSN1086-3338.JSTOR2010401.S2CID154855272.
- ^Mendoza, Ronald U.; Bulaong, Oscar Jr.; Mendoza, Gabrielle Ann S. (1 February 2022). "Cronyism, Oligarchy and Governance in the Philippines: 1970s vs 2020s".SSRN4032259.
- ^Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert (2015),"Can the Philippines' wild oligarchy be tamed?",Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Democratization,Routledge, pp. 347–362,doi:10.4324/9781315674735-30,ISBN978-1-315-67473-5,retrieved15 May2022
- ^ab"Explainer: The oligarchy in the Philippines is more than just one family or firm".Philstar.com.Retrieved15 May2022.
- ^Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos."Duterte takes pride in dismantling oligarchy".Philippine News Agency.Retrieved15 May2022.
- ^Esmael, Lisbet (29 June 2022)."Businesses under Duterte administration: Who gained, who got hurt?".CNN Philippines.Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2023.Retrieved19 September2023.
- ^Scheidel, Walter(2017).The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century.Princeton University Press.pp.51&222–223.ISBN978-0691165028.
- ^"Russian oligarchs: What are they and how have they changed over time?".BBC.Retrieved28 September2023.
- ^Kazemzadeh, Masoud (2020).Iran's Foreign Policy: Elite Factionalism, Ideology, the Nuclear Weapons Program, and the United States.New York: Routledge. pp. 1–19.ISBN978-0-367-49545-9.
- ^Amuzager, Jahangir (2014).The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy.New York: Routledge. pp. 48–50, 88–89.ISBN978-1-85743-748-5.
- ^"Zelensky's battle against oligarchs: What does the new law mean?".Al Jazeera.Retrieved28 September2023.
- ^Kroll, Andy (2 December 2010)."The New American Oligarchy".TomDispatch.Truthout.Archived fromthe originalon 22 January 2012.Retrieved17 August2012.
- ^Starr, Paul (24 August 2012)."America on the Brink of Oligarchy".The New Republic.
- ^Winters, Jeffrey A. (November–December 2011) [28 September 2011]."Oligarchy and Democracy".The American Interest.7(2).Retrieved17 August2012.
- ^Herbert, Bob(19 July 1998)."The Donor Class".The New York Times.Retrieved10 March2016.
- ^Confessore, Nicholas; Cohen, Sarah; Yourish, Karen (10 October 2015)."The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election".The New York Times.Retrieved10 March2016.
- ^Lichtblau, Eric; Confessore, Nicholas (10 October 2015)."From Fracking to Finance, a Torrent of Campaign Cash – Top Donors List".The New York Times.Retrieved11 March2016.
- ^McCutcheon, Chuck (26 December 2014)."Why the 'donor class' matters, especially in the GOP presidential scrum"."The Christian Science Monitor.Retrieved10 March2016.
- ^Piketty, Thomas(2014).Capital in the Twenty-First Century.Belknap Press.ISBN067443000Xp. 514
- ^Johnson, Simon(May 2009)."The Quiet Coup".The Atlantic.Retrieved17 August2012.
- ^Kreps, Daniel (31 July 2015)."Jimmy Carter: America Is Now an 'Oligarchy'".Rolling Stone.Retrieved14 July2024.
- ^Gilens, Martin; Page, Benjamin I. (2014)."Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens".Perspectives on Politics.12(3): 564–581.doi:10.1017/S1537592714001595.
- ^Prokop, A. (18 April 2014)"The new study about oligarchy that's blowing up the Internet, explained"Vox
- ^Bashir, Omar S. (1 October 2015)."Testing Inferences about American Politics: A Review of the" Oligarchy "Result".Research & Politics.2(4): 2053168015608896.doi:10.1177/2053168015608896.ISSN2053-1680.
- ^Gilens, Martin; Page, Benjamin I. (7 December 2021)."Critics argued with our analysis of U.S. political inequality. Here are 5 ways they're wrong".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved14 July2024.
- ^"Oligarchy".education.nationalgeographic.org.National Geographic.Retrieved21 July2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Aslund, Anders (2005), "Comparative Oligarchy: Russia, Ukraine and the United States",CASE Network Studies and Analyses No. 296(PDF),Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,doi:10.2139/ssrn.1441910,S2CID153769623
- Gordon, Daniel (2010). "Hiring Law Professors: Breaking the Back of an American Plutocratic Oligarchy".Widener Law Journal.19:1–29.SSRN1412783.
- Hollingsworth, Mark; Lansley, Stewart (2010).Londongrad: From Russia with Cash: The Inside Story of the Oligarchs.Fourth Estate.ISBN978-0007356379.
- Hudson, Michael(2023).The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization's Oligarchic Turning Point.Islet.ISBN978-3949546129.
- J. M. Moore, ed. (1986).Aristotle and Xenophon on democracy and oligarchy.University of California Press.ISBN978-0520029095.
- Ostwald, M. (2000),Oligarchia: The Development of a Constitutional Form in Ancient Greece (HistoriaEinzelschirften; 144).Stuttgart: Steiner,ISBN3515076808.
- Ramseyer, J. Mark;Rosenbluth, Frances McCall(1998).The Politics of Oligarchy: Institutional Choice in Imperial Japan.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521636490.
- Tabachnick, David; Koivukoski, Toivu (2012).On Oligarchy: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics.University of Toronto Press.ISBN978-1442661165.
- Whibley, Leonard (1896).Greek oligarchies, their character and organisations.G. P. Putnam's Sons.
- Winters, Jeffrey A.(2011).Oligarchy.Northwestern University, Illinois: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1107005280.
External links
[edit]
Media related toOligarchiesat Wikimedia Commons
