Oligarchy: Difference between revisions

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Oligarchy is a political system where a small group of usually incredibly wealthy individuals are the rulers, usually indirectly through lobbying a head of state, though this group can rule directly in some cases.

History

First definitions

Oligarchy's history can be remoted to the start of the civilizations as we know, and itself it was firstly mentioned by Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle defined it as a degenerative form of 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 Meritocracy. Basically a step to degenerate to a Tyranny.
First oligarchies that are documented appeared in 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 criticized 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 because of the actual " purchase of power».

Aristotle defined the Oligarchy in four types:
-First Type: When 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.
-Second Type: 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 those 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 more tense in the sense that the number of owners decreases, and the amount of property in the hands of each individual such owner increases.
-Third Type: All offices are concentrated in the hands of the proprietors, and the law commands that, after their death, their sons succeed them in office.
-Fourth Type: 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 Plutocracy, as it can be considered a subtype of it.

Modern definition

Oligarchy was very unknow until the French Bourgeois Revolution, when they redefinated the termin 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.

Soviet political-economic writters recoined the modern definition of the rule of the narrow group of people as rich or eldery.

Modern oligarchies

Priceton University made a study of the analisis of the govermental programms, and made the decision that the USA had converted from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, where elections became just a ceremonial procedure. According to 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 on the American Politics in the Senate.

Russia during Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990's is the most 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 were so big that they controlled the newspapers and even some people as Sergei Mavrodi, retained more power than the state. In the 2000's 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, I guess Mediocracy can help.

Ukraine's situation is similar to what Russia had, as business oligarchs have big political influence, notably Petro Poroshenko, Viktor Medvedchuk, Rinat Akhmetov and Dmytro Firtash. Overall, there are about 35 oligarch groups.

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 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.

How to Draw

Draw a ball
Colour it yellow
Draw 6 red circles at the vertices of an imaginary hexagon
Add one eye
For the second eye, draw a monocle
You are finished

Relationships

Friends

Kleptocracy - My true successor.
Plutocracy - I already told you, you're my true successor.
Stalinism - You would... betray your ideals... for me?
Tetrarchy - You are considered small but still not one.
Illuminatism - You're me plus stealth.

Frenemies

Diarchy - You are borderline monarchy.
Liberalism - You have always been a fool, if a useful one.
Authoritarian Democracy - He likes me but hates it when he's with me
Meritocracy - Why do the members of our cabal need to be chosen based on "merit".
Populism - Thanks for giving me power, moron.

Enemies

Aristocracy - They're pompous and foolish.
Democracy - This ideology doesn't exist.
Anarchism - Neither does this one.
File:Soc.png Socialism- Or this one.

Further Information

Literature

Political Parties: A Sociological Study of Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy by Robert Michels
The Ruling Class by Gaetano Mosca
The Mind and Society: A Treatise on General Sociology by Vilfredo Pareto

Wikipedia

Videos

The Intractable Problem of Democracy and Elite Theory: Gaetono Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto by The Academic Agent

Gallery

Credit: K-Tech, Source
Credit: u/yebito2808, Source
Credit: K-Tech, Source
Credit: u/Eu_Sou_BR, Source
Credit: u/Eu_Sou_BR, Source

Template:Authunity

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 === First definitions ===
-Oligarchy's history can be remoted to the start of the civilizations as we know, and itself it was firstly mentioned by Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle defined it as a degenerative form of 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 Meritocracy. Basically a step to degenerate to a Tyrany.
+Oligarchy's history can be remoted to the start of the civilizations as we know, and itself it was firstly mentioned by Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle defined it as a degenerative form of [[File:Arist.png]] [[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 [[File:Merit.png]] [[Meritocracy]]. Basically a step to degenerate to a Tyranny. <br>
-First oligarchies that are documented appeared in 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 criticized by Plato and Aristotle.
+First oligarchies that are documented appeared in [[File:Cball-Greece.png]] 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 criticized 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 because of the actual " purchase of power».
-Aristotle defined the Oligarchy in four type:
+Aristotle defined the Oligarchy in '''four''' types: <br>
--(First Type) When 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.
+'''-First Type:''' When 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. <br>
--(Second Type) 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 those 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 more tense in the sense that the number of owners decreases, and the amount of property in the hands of each individual such owner increases.
+'''-Second Type:''' 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 those 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 more tense in the sense that the number of owners decreases, and the amount of property in the hands of each individual such owner increases. <br>
--(Third Type) All offices are concentrated in the hands of the proprietors, and the law commands that, after their death, their sons succeed them in office.
+'''-Third Type:''' All offices are concentrated in the hands of the proprietors, and the law commands that, after their death, their sons succeed them in office. <br>
--(Four Type) 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.
+'''-Fourth Type: '''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. <br>
-Oligarchy is inherently related to Plutocracy, as it can be considered a subtype of it.
+Oligarchy is inherently related to [[File:Plutocrat.png]] [[Plutocracy]], as it can be considered a subtype of it.
 === Modern definition ===
-Oligarchy was very unknow until the French Burgeoise Revolution, when they redefinated the termin 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
+Oligarchy was very unknow until the [[File:Jack.png]] [[Jacobinism|French Bourgeois Revolution]], when they redefinated the termin 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. <br>
-USSR political-economic writters recoined the modern definition of the rule of the narrow group of people as rich or eldery.
+[[File:ML.png]] [[Marxism–Leninism|Soviet]] political-economic writters recoined the modern definition of the rule of the narrow group of people as rich or eldery.
 === Modern oligarchies ===
-Priceton University made a study of the analisis of the govermental programms, and made the decision that the USA had converted from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, where elections became just a ceremonial procedure. According to 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 on the American Politics in the Senate.
+Priceton University made a study of the analisis of the govermental programms, and made the decision that the [[File:Cball-US.png]] USA had converted from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, where elections became just a ceremonial procedure. According to 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 on the American Politics in the Senate.
-Russia in the 1990s years is the most 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 were so big that they controlled the newspapers and even some people as Mavrodi, retained more power than the state. In the 2000s the Oligarchs still controlled most of the state enterprises and economy. Even tho, in 2020, Dmitri Peskov claimed that there are no Oligarchs in Russia, I guess Mediocracy can help.
+[[File:Cball-Russia.png]]Russia during Yeltsin's presidency in the 1990's is the most 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 were so big that they controlled the newspapers and even some people as Sergei Mavrodi, retained more power than the state. In the 2000's 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, I guess Mediocracy can help.
-Ukraine's situation is similar to what Russia had, as buisness oligarchs have big political influence, as it was Poroshenko or Rinat Akmetov. Overall, there are 35 oligarch groups.
+[[File:Cball-Ukraine.png]]Ukraine's situation is similar to what Russia had, as business oligarchs have big political influence, notably [[File:Liberalconservative.png]] [[Liberal Conservatism|Petro Poroshenko]], [[File:Consocf.png]] [[Conservative Socialism|Viktor Medvedchuk]], Rinat Akhmetov and Dmytro Firtash. Overall, there are about 35 oligarch groups.
 == Beliefs ==