Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Definition
Oligarchy is a form of government where power is held by a small group of individuals, families, or powerful elites. These groups maintain authority and control over policies, often for their own interests rather than the broader public good.
AP course connection
Topic 3.1: 3.1 The Classical Origins of Western Political Ideologies
A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives.
Plutocracy: A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.
Autocracy: A system of government in which supreme power is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regularized mechanisms of popular control