Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 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.
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