oligarchy

/ˈɑlɪgɑrki/

/ˈɒlɪgɑki/

Other forms: oligarchies

Does it ever feel like just a few people have all the power? If it's a government that's run like this, it's an oligarchy. A country that has this form of government is an oligarchy too.

The political term, oligarchy, comes to English from the Greek with its meaning intact — a form of government run by a small number of people such as wealthy landowners, royalty or powerful military figures. If you say that you can't fight the oligarchy, you mean the leaders of such a place. Sometimes the word refers to the few powerful people in charge of a large company or system. A financial oligarchy might try to block reform.

Definitions of oligarchy

1. noun

   a political system governed by a few people
   “one of his cardinal convictions was that Britain was not run as a democracy but as an oligarchy”

   “the big cities were notoriously in the hands of the oligarchy of local businessmen”

   type of:

   form of government, political system

   the members of a social organization who are in power