Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of government in which a minority of the population holds state power. All capitalist states are by their very nature oligarchic in that the bourgeoisie holds total control, even in bourgeois democracy.

Oligarchy is contrasted with democracy, in which the majority of the population rules.

Forms of oligarchy

All forms of the state prior to the dictatorship of the proletariat are considered oligarchies. Particular forms include:

• Slavery, the dictatorship of the patricians
• Feudalism, the dictatorship of the aristocracy
  • Absolute monarchy
• Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the form of government under capitalism
  • Bourgeois democracy, in which oligarchy is concealed with nominal political freedoms given to the majority
    • Constitutional monarchy
  • Fascist dictatorship, the terroristic dictatorship of the capitalists
  • Corporatocracy, the form of government of neoliberal states