| Revision as of 03:04, 4 November 2012 view source50.13.78.123 (talk) →Corporate oligarchy: the description was opinion and must be demonstrated with citations, so it was removed.← Previous edit |
Revision as of 20:26, 4 November 2012 view source 74.190.96.170 (talk) ←Replaced content with '≤≤≤≤≤≤≤{{Forms of government}} oligarchy is f***** stupid.--~~~~'Tag: blankingNext edit → |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
|
{{Forms of government}} |
|
≤≤≤≤≤≤≤{{Forms of government}} |
|
|
|
|
|
|
oligarchy is f***** stupid.--] (]) 20:26, 4 November 2012 (UTC) |
|
'''Oligarchy''' ({{etymology|el|{{lang|grc|''ὀλιγαρχία''}} (oligarkhía)}}; {{etymology||''ὀλίγος'' (olígos)|a few||''ἄρχω'' (archo)|to rule or to command}})<ref>, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref><ref>, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref><ref>, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus Digital Library</ref> is a form of ] in which ] effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who pass their influence from one generation to the next.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} |
|
|
|
|
|
Throughout history, oligarchies have been ] (relying on public ] to exist) or relatively benign. ] pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich,<ref>Winters (2011) p.37</ref> for which the exact term is ], but ''oligarchy'' is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group, and do not have to be connected by bloodlines as in a ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
==History== |
|
|
;Athenian techniques to prevent the rise of oligarchy |
|
|
Especially during the Fourth Century BC, after the restoration of democracy from oligarchical coups, the ]s used the ] for selecting government officers in order to counteract what the Athenians acutely saw as a tendency toward oligarchy in government if a professional governing class were allowed to use their skills for their own benefit.<ref>M.H. Hansen, The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes 97, 308, et al. (Oxford, 1991)</ref> They drew lots from large groups of adult volunteers as a selection technique for civil servants performing judicial, executive, and administrative functions (archai, boulē, and hēliastai).<ref>Bernard Manin, Principles of Representative Government 11-24 (1997).</ref> They even used lots for very important posts, such as judges and jurors in the political courts (nomothetai), which had the power to overrule the Assembly.<ref>Bernard Manin Principles of Representative Government 19-23 (1997).</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
==Manifestations== |
|
|
] and other political structures associated with oligarchy can include ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
===Corporate oligarchy=== |
|
|
{{main|Corporatocracy}} |
|
|
] oligarchy is a form of power, governmental or operational, where such power effectively rests with a small, elite group of inside individuals, sometimes from a small group of educational institutions, or influential economic entities or devices, such as banks, commercial entities, lobbyists that act in complicity with, or at the whim of the oligarchy, often with little or no regard for constitutionally protected ]. Monopolies are sometimes granted to state-controlled entities, such as the Royal Charter granted to the ], or privileged bargaining rights to unions (labor monopolies) with very partisan political interests. Today's multinational corporations function as corporate oligarchies with influence over democratically elected officials. |
|
|
|
|
|
==Political theory== |
|
|
{{further|Iron law of oligarchy}} |
|
|
|
|
|
] believed that any political system eventually evolves into an oligarchy. He called this the ''iron law of oligarchy''. According to this school of thought, many modern ] should be considered as oligarchies. In these systems, actual differences between viable political rivals are small, the oligarchic ] impose strict limits on what constitutes an acceptable and respectable political position, and politicians' careers depend heavily on unelected economic and ]s. Thus the popular phrase: there is only one political party, the ] party.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} |
|
|
|
|
|
==Specific examples== |
|
|
|
|
|
===European Union=== |
|
|
Some examples would include the ] which, while it does not hold much political sway on a national level; has the authority to dictate some laws of member nations and impose norms and policies<ref>http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/gen_info/tax_policy/index_en.htm</ref> that may not have been voted for by national referendum. Given that the leadership of the EU is subject to a particularly low voter turnout, it may be termed an oligarchy of the European Council members. |
|
|
The political relations between members, who would normally display a broad array of responses and policies in a democratic system are repetitive and contingent.<ref></ref><ref></ref> The concept of power runs through a range marked at one end by forced compliance backed by penalties<ref></ref> and at the other by the gentleness of influence and persuasion.<ref></ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
===Soviet Union=== |
|
|
Another example would be the former ] where only members of the Communist Party were allowed to vote or hold office |
|
|
|
|
|
Since ] on 31 December 1991, privately owned Russia-based multinational corporations, including producers of petroleum, natural gas, and metal have, in the view of some analysts, become oligarchs. In May 2004, the Russian edition of Forbes identified 36 of these oligarchs as being worth at least $1 billion.<ref>, Putin and the Oligarchs, Foreign Affairs. November/December 2004</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
===South Africa=== |
|
|
A modern example of oligarchy could be seen in ] during the twentieth century. Here, the basic characteristics of oligarchy are particularly easy to observe, since the South African form of oligarchy was based on ]. After the ], a tacit agreement or understanding was reached between English- and ]-speaking whites. Together, they made up about twenty percent of the population, but this small percentage ruled the vast non-white and mixed-race population. Whites had access to virtually all the ]al and ] opportunities, and they proceeded to deny this to the black majority even further than before.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} |
|
|
|
|
|
Although this process had been going on since the mid-17th- 18th century, after 1948 it became official government policy and became known worldwide as ]. This lasted until the arrival of ] in South Africa in 1994, punctuated by the transition to a democratically-elected government dominated by the black majority.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} |
|
|
|
|
|
===United States=== |
|
|
Some contemporary authors have characterized the United States' current state of affairs as being oligarchic in nature.<ref name='Kroll 2010-12-02'>{{cite news | first = Andy | last = Kroll | title = The New American Oligarchy | date = 2010-12-02 | publisher = ] | url = http://archive.truthout.org/andy-kroll-the-new-american-oligarchy65597 | work = TomDispatch | accessdate = 2012-08-17}}</ref><ref> August 24, 2012 ]</ref> ] wrote that "the reemergence of an American financial oligarchy is quite recent," a structure which he delineated as being the "most advanced" in the world.<ref name='TA Johnson 2009-05'>{{cite journal | title = The Quiet Coup | journal = The Atlantic | date = May 2009 | first = Simon | last = Johnson | authorlink=Simon Johnson (economist)| url = http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/the-quiet-coup/307364/?single_page=true | accessdate = 2012-08-17}}</ref> ] argues that "oligarchy and democracy operate within a single system, and American politics is a daily display of their interplay."<ref name='TAI 11-12/2011'> {{cite journal | title = Oligarchy and Democracy | journal = The American Interest | date = November/December 2011 | first = Jeffrey A. | last = Winters | volume = 7 | issue = 2 | uricle.cfm?piece=1048 | accessdate = 2012-08-17}}</ref> ] (I-VT) opined in a 2010 '']'' article that an "upper-crust of extremely wealthy families are hell-bent on destroying the democratic vision of a strong middle-class which has made the United States the envy of the world. In its place they are determined to create an oligarchy in which a small number of families control the economic and political life of our country."<ref name='Sanders 2010-07-22'>{{cite news | first = Bernie | last = Sanders | title = No To Oligarchy | date = 2010-07-22 | url = http://www.thenation.com/article/37889/no-oligarchy | work = The Nation | accessdate = 2012-08-18}}</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
] political and finance industry leadership has recently been dominated by people associated with ] and ].<ref>Gordon, D. (June 1, 2009) ''Widener Law Journal'' '''19''' (2010) pp. 1-29, at pp. 18-21.</ref> All nine members of the current ] attended Harvard or Yale law schools. The last member appointed to the court who was not a former student at one of those two institutions was ], appointed by the newly elected President ] in 1981.<ref>United States Supreme Court (2010) ''supremecourt.gov''</ref> Reagan was also the last United States President who did not attend either Harvard or Yale.<ref>Success Degrees Publishing (2011) ''successdegrees.com''</ref> |
|
|
|
|
|
===In fiction=== |
|
|
A well-known fictional oligarchy is represented by the Party in ]'s novel '']''. The socialists in the ] novel '']' fight a rebellion against the oligarchy ruling in the United States. |
|
|
|
|
|
==Authors== |
|
|
Prolific authors on the subject of oligarchy include ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. |
|
|
|
|
|
==See also== |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
* ] |
|
|
|
|
|
==References== |
|
|
{{Reflist}} |
|
|
{{Refbegin}} |
|
|
* Ostwald, M. ''Oligarchia: The Development of a Constitutional Form in Ancient Greece (''Historia'' Einzelschirften; 144)''. Stuttgart: Steiner, 2000 (ISBN 3-515-07680-8). |
|
|
* {{cite book | last1 = Winters | first1 = Jeffrey Alan | title = Oligarchy | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 2011-04-18 | location = Northwestern University, Illinois | accessdate = 2012-08-17 | isbn = 978-1107005280}} |
|
|
|
|
|
==Further reading== |
|
|
*{{cite book | title=Aristotle and Xenophon on democracy and oligarchy | editor=J. M. Moore | publisher=] | isbn=0-520-02909-7 | year=1986 }} |
|
|
*{{cite book | last1 = Winters | first1 = Jeffrey Alan | title = Oligarchy | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 2011-04-18 | location = Northwestern University, Illinois | accessdate = 2012-08-17 | isbn = 978-1107005280}} |
|
|
*{{cite book | last1 = Ramseyer | first1 = J. Mark | last2 = Rosenbluth | first2 = Frances McCall | title = The Politics of Oligarchy: Institutional Choice in Imperial Japan | publisher = Cambridge University Press | date = 1998-03-28 | accessdate = 2012-08-17 | isbn = 978-0521636490}} |
|
|
*{{citation | contribution = Comparative Oligarchy: Russia, Ukraine and the United States | title = CASE Network Studies and Analyses No. 296 | first = Anders | last = Aslund | publisher = ] | year = 2005 | doi = 10.2139/ssrn.1441910 | contribution-url = http://www.case-research.eu/upload/publikacja_plik/4931074_SA%20296last.pdf | format = PDF }} |
|
|
*{{cite book | last1 = Whibley | first1 = Leonard | title = Greek oligarchies, their character and organisations | publisher = G. P. Putnam's Sons | year = 1896 | url = http://archive.org/details/cu31924028258204 | accessdate = 2012-08-18}} |
|
|
*{{cite book | last1 = Hollingsworth | first1 = Mark | last2 = Lansley | first2 = Stewart | title = Londongrad: From Russia with Cash: The Inside Story of the Oligarchs | publisher = Fourth Estate | date = 2010-08-12 | accessdate = 2012-08-18 | isbn = 978-0007356379}} |
|
|
*{{cite book | last1 = Tabachnick | first1 = David | last2 = Koivukoski | first2 = Toivu | title = On Oligarchy: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics | publisher = University of Toronto Press | date = 2012-01-20 | accessdate = 2012-08-17 | isbn = 978-1442661165}} |
|
|
*{{cite journal | title = Oligarchy and Democracy | journal = The American Interest | date = November/December 2011 | first = Jeffrey A. | last = Winters | volume = 7 | issue = 2 | url = http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1048 }} |
|
|
|
|
|
==External links== |
|
|
{{Wiktionary}} |
|
|
* |
|
|
{{Authoritarian types of rule}} |
|
|
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}} |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
|
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
|
] |
|
Politics portal