An oligarchy is a form of government where power is held by a small group, often wealthy or influential families. Oligarchies can form through economic power or shifting alliances, and can lead to authoritarianism. Examples include England’s Magna Carta and South Africa’s apartheid.
An oligarchy is a form of government in which most political power actually rests with a small segment of society, typically the people who have the most wealth, military strength, ruthlessness, or political influence. The word “oligarchy” comes from the Greek words olígos, which means “few”, and archo, which means “to govern”. Some political theorists have argued that all societies are inevitably oligarchies, regardless of their supposed political system.
How oligarchies are formed
Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and educated to become heirs to power, often at the expense of those governed. In contrast to the aristocracy – or the rule of the ‘best’ – this power may not always be exercised overtly, with some oligarchs preferring to remain ‘the power behind the throne’, exercising their control through economic means. Unlike plutocracy, not even oligarchy is always a rule of wealth, because oligarchs can simply be a privileged cadre. It has also been suggested that most communist states fit the definition of oligarchies.
Societies could also become oligarchies by default, as a consequence of the shifting alliances of warring chieftains, although any form of government could turn into an oligarchy at some point in its evolution. The most likely mechanism for this transformation is a gradual accumulation of otherwise unchecked economic power. Oligarchies could also evolve into more classically authoritarian forms of government, sometimes as a result of the ascendancy of one family over the others. Many of the European monarchies established during the late Middle Ages began this way.
England in the 1200s
Oligarchies could also become tools of transformation, insisting that monarchs or dictators share power, thus opening the door for other elements of society to share power. An example of this process occurred when English nobles united in 1215 to force a reluctant King John to sign Magna Carta, a tacit acknowledgment of both the king’s waning political power and the existence of an incipient oligarchy. As English society continued to grow and develop, Magna Carta was repeatedly revised over the next decade, granting more rights to more people, thus setting the stage for Britain’s constitutional monarchy.
South Africa in 1900
A modern example of oligarchy could be seen in 20th century South Africa, where the basic characteristics of oligarchy were particularly easy to observe, because the South African form of oligarchy was based on racism. After the Boer War, a tacit agreement was reached between English-speaking whites and Afrikaans. Together, they made up about 20 percent of the population, but this small percentage had access to virtually all educational and business opportunities, and the minority proceeded to deny these opportunities to the black majority even more than before. Although this process had been underway since the mid-18th century, after the 20th it became official government policy and became known worldwide as apartheid. This lasted until the arrival of democracy in South Africa in 18, punctuated by the transition to a democratically elected government dominated by the black majority.
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