What It Means
Rich Russians
Useless in Practice
Is the United States an oligarchy?
Why it Matters?
“Oligarchy” has dethroned fascism as politics’ latest, oft-misused buzzword.
The abstract adjective reentered the political zeitgeist on the back of Representative Bernie Sanders’ (VT) “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. More than 30,000 people reportedly attended Sanders’ rally in Denver last Friday.
Online, “oligarchy” and “oligarch” have devolved into synonyms for dishonest, corrupt, rich, arrogant and virtually every other negative adjective under the sun.
We can do better. Here’s what an oligarchy actually is — and how it’s being misused.
“Oligarchy” literally means “rule by the few” — any few.
Aristotle used “oligarchy” to describe a failed or corrupt aristocracy, which the philosopher envisioned as rule by the best people for the job.
Britannica’s definition of oligarchy, then, draws from Aristotelian tradition:
An oligarch is a ruling member of an oligarchy. They do not, by definition, have to be rich.
Still, most Americans, including Sanders, associate oligarchy with wealth. That’s because, until recently, most Americans only heard “oligarch” in reference to uber rich, politically powerful, morally ambiguous Russians.
The first generation of Russian oligarchs arose in the 1990s, when Boris Yeltsin sold off Soviet-era treasure, property and infrastructure to stimulate Russia’s aspiring free market economy. The first oligarchs amassed fortunes by buying Yeltsin’s discarded assets and selling them for profit.
Money bought Russia’s first oligarchs political power and influence. Many that arose under Vladimir Putin, in contrast, leveraged their political and personal connections to make their fortune.
Timothy Frye, a professor of post-Soviet foreign policy at Columbia University, broke second-generation oligarchs into three categories for The Washington Post: those with direct ties to Putin, those with connections to Russia’s extensive national security apparatus (including the KGB), and favored business executives promoted to run state companies.
“Oligarchy” is too broad a designation to offer any descriptive value. “Rule of a few” encompasses everything from a dictatorship to a republic — any government in which one citizen has more political sway than another.
In his Political Parties, German sociologist Robert Michels even argued that organizations inevitably become oligarchies, because those with valuable skills and knowledge gain more influence than the inexperienced and ineffective.
“Corrupt” and “selfish” can reference a similarly broad range of actions. Selling state secrets and using undue influence to avoid a parking ticket, for example, fall under the umbrella of government corruption.
Definitions of oligarchy may be all over the map, but the word’s negative connotations transcend semantics. That’s why rhetoricians use it — to connect people and policies they disagree with abstractions of injustice and obscene wealth.
That depends.
If you define oligarchy literally, then sure — a republic is inherently an oligarchy because politicians have more influence over the political process than regular people. The First Amendment protects wealthy people’s political donations as free speech.
But the United States does not meet the traditional, holistic definition of an oligarchy typified by Russia.
True oligarchies do not have meaningful constitutional restrictions. Putin and his inner circle operate with total freedom. The American executive branch, in contrast, is hampered by Congress and the judiciary.
The regular transfer of power further distinguishes America from traditional oligarchies. Each election cycle, both political parties accuse the other of being an oligarchy, or part of “the elite” — yet none hang on to power indefinitely.
Russian oligarchs also exhibit a level of corruption and influence unequaled in modern America. The closest U.S. equivalent, Professor Frye told the Post, would be the robber barons of the Gilded Age.
Proverbs 18:21 reads, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it’s fruits.”
If speech is as powerful as the Bible tells us, we should be concerned with making our language precise and truthful and teaching our children to do the same. This is perhaps most important when conversing about heated or controversial topics — the kind where emotions tend to hijack the tongue.
America’s political discourse needs a hefty dose of precision and truth. Let’s each do our part to supply it— starting with “oligarchy.”
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