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What is an oligarchy? Is the United States ready to become an oligarchy?

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In his farewell address, outgoing US President Joe Biden warned that “an oligarchy of extreme wealth, power, and influence is forming in America that literally threatens our entire democracy.”

The comment suggests that in President Donald Trump’s second term, it will be billionaires, not the people, who will shape public policy.

There is certainly evidence that Biden’s ominous warnings should be taken seriously. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of X, is a vocal supporter of Republican candidates. Other billionaire tech moguls who will visit President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion after his 2024 election victory include Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Apple’s Tim Cook. and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

It’s not unusual for business leaders to want the next president to listen. Biden and others are concerned that many of Trump’s influential supporters also own media platforms and have the ability to sway public opinion.

Should these emerging tech giants be considered oligarchies?

What is an oligarchy?

Like many academic and scientific categories that we still use today, oligarchy was originally defined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

In The Politics, he argued that people are “political animals”, inherently social and instinctively desiring to live in communities. He studied the various governments of the ancient world and concluded that there were six essential types.

A nation may be ruled by a single leader, by a small group of elites, or by the participation of a large number of its citizens. If the leaders acted on the basis of the common interest (koinê sumpheron), he called these constitutions monarchies, aristocracy, or polities, respectively.

When constitutions are corrupt and leaders act only to advance their own interests, he names them tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

Therefore, for Aristotle, oligarchy is a corrupt form of government. It is when power is in the hands of a small elite group that promotes their own interests rather than the common good.

In Aristotle’s terms, democracy is also a corrupt form of government in which the majority uses its power to abuse the minority. While the word democracy has made a comeback and is usually seen as positive, the word oligarchy still has negative connotations.

When the United States was founded, the Founding Fathers looked back to Aristotle, Polybius, Cicero, and other ancient thinkers and tried to create the best possible constitution.

In the Aristotelian tradition, they sought to design a mixed constitution in which neither the few nor the many could dominate the others. The president has great powers. However, their power is checked by parliament and the judiciary, further by the media, and ultimately by the people through periodic elections.

modern oligarchy

In modern politics, the term oligarchy is most often used in the Russian context. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, opportunistic tycoons amassed vast wealth by buying up state-owned assets such as energy companies and financial institutions, giving them enormous political influence.

However, since Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, Russia has become increasingly authoritarian. There is still an oligarchic class, but their power has been curbed. They must not challenge Putin’s power or national vision.

China is ostensibly a communist country, but its Gini index, a measure of social inequality, has exploded in recent years as a small elite has become increasingly wealthy.

Despite the state’s official commitment to socialist principles, political scientist Ming Xia argued that China is now transitioning into a modern oligarchy.

What about America or Australia?

Despite Biden’s warnings about the possibility of an oligarchy, political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page argued in 2014 that the United States is already an oligarchy.

The United States has the essential characteristics of a liberal democracy: fair and regular elections, free speech, and an independent press. But Mr. Gilens and Mr. Page were concerned that large corporations and a small number of wealthy citizens had disproportionate influence over policy.

In Australia, too, oligarchy may be on the rise, or perhaps already established.

Australia has an economy the size of Russia and has a growing list of billionaires who are seen as having significant influence over government policy.

The power of the Murdoch family and their media empire is well documented. We’ve also seen an increase in political activity from other billionaires, including Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest, and even Clive Palmer, who started his own political party.

There is no doubt that billionaires in the United States and Australia have tremendous power and influence. But that in itself does not constitute an oligarchy.

In Aristotle’s terms, the defining feature of an oligarchy is the blatant use of its position by ruling elites for personal gain rather than the public good.

This is a moral judgment that is becoming increasingly difficult now that so many of the super-rich own traditional news media and social media platforms that can shape public opinion.

Nevertheless, any change to an oligarchy should be a cause for alarm for all who respect the long democratic traditions in both the United States and Australia.

Strengthen democratic institutions and curb disinformation and disinformation that is all too prevalent on social media, whether it is a symptom of Biden’s Trumpism or part of a longer-term trend. That’s part of the solution.

Presented by The Conversation

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Citation: What is an oligarchy? Is the United States ready to become an oligarchy? (January 19, 2025) https://phys.org/news/2025-01-oligarchy-states-poized Retrieved January 19, 2025 from .html

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