oligarchy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a political system governed by a few people

   One of their cardinal convictions was that Britain was not run as a democracy but as an oligarchy.

2. 2
   noun

   A government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.

   Despite the involvement of all classes of society, America's political duopoly and the importance of money to mass-market campaigning has established an oligarchy that is seldom responsive to the citizenry as a whole, when opposed to the wealthy or major interest groups.

3. 3
   noun

   A state ruled by such a government.

   The 1832 Reform Act aimed to transform the British oligarchy and allow Parliament to represent the interests of a broader range of the population.

4. 4
   noun

   Those who make up an oligarchic government.

   The modern British oligarchy—particularly during periods of Tory rule—has been called a chumocracy.

Borrowed from French oligarchie, from Late Latin oligarchia, from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía), from ὀλίγος (olígos, “few”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule”). By surface analysis, oligo- (“few”) + -archy (“rule, command”).

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