oligarchy
(ˈɒlɪgɑːkɪ)
[ad. Gr. ὀλιγαρχία government in the hands of a few, f. as ὀλιγάρχης oligarch + abstract ending -ία; probably through med.L. oligarchia (Du Cange); cf. F. oligarchie (Oresme, 14th c.).]
Government by the few; a form of government in which the power is confined to a few persons or families; also, the body of persons composing such a government.
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 169 But if these chief or head men vse euill meanes to come to authority..then is their gouernment not to be called an Aristocracie, but an Oligarchie. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 7 An Oligarchy is the swerving, or the corruption of an Aristocracy. 1651 Hobbes Leviathan ii. xix. 95 They that are displeased with Aristocracy, called it Oligarchy. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 283 An ignoble oligarchy founded on the destruction of the crown, the church, the nobility, and the people. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. 397 It ceased to be, in the Greek sense, an aristocracy; it became a faction, an oligarchy. 1861 Bright Sp. Amer. 4 Dec. (1876) 99 Those whose sympathies warm towards the slave oligarchy of the South. |
______________________________
Add: 2. transf. Any organization in which power and authority is confined to a small group; the controlling faction in such an organization.
| 1933 Encycl. Social Sci. XI. 462/2 Oligarchy..is capable of wide application both to governments and to such extragovernmental groups as parties, churches and business corporations. 1953 Amer. Political Sci. Rev. XLVII. 779 The definition of the concept of oligarchy to be adopted is the following: An oligarchy is an organization characterized by the fact that part of the activities of which it consists, viz., the activities having the highest degree of authority (which have been called ‘leadership’ or ‘executive’ activities), are free from control by any of the remainder of the organizational activities. a 1961 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) in Webster s.v., High schools are oligarchies..or whatever you like, but not democracies. 1975 Economist 18 Oct. 14/2 New town corporations have a reputation for behaving like marauding giants towards their reluctant host authorities. Labour councillors in particular rail against these undemocratic oligarchies. 1977 Ld. Armstrong in Observer 8 May 10/1 The Civil Service is a self-perpetuating oligarchy, and what better system is there? 1988 N.Y. Times 27 Nov. vii. 23/1 Speech is..subtly suppressed and homogenized by burgeoning media oligarchies and the tyranny of commerce in the West. |