Editing Oligarchy (section)

== Types ==
=== Minority rule ===
{{Main|Minoritarianism}}

The consolidation of power by a [[dominant minority]], whether religious or ethnic, can be considered a form of oligarchy.<ref name=Minority1>{{cite book |last1=Coleman |first1=James |last2=Rosberg |first2=Carl |title=Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa |url=https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000cole |url-access=registration |date=1966 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000cole/page/681 681–683] |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Los Angeles |isbn=978-0520002531}}</ref> Examples include South Africa during [[apartheid]], Liberia under [[Americo-Liberian people|Americo-Liberians]], the [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]],{{Citation needed|reason=How?|date=November 2024}} and [[Rhodesia]]. In these cases, oligarchic rule was often tied to the legacy of colonialism.<ref name=Minority1/> 

In the early 20th century, [[Robert Michels]] expanded on this idea in his [[iron law of oligarchy]], arguing that even democracies, like all large organizations, tend to become oligarchic due to the necessity of dividing labor, which ultimately results in a ruling class focused on maintaining its power.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michels |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Michels |last2=Paul |first2=E. |last3=Paul |first3=C. |title=Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy |publisher=Hearst's International Library Company |year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XXl87CLp5cC |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8XXl87CLp5cC&dq=%22who%20says%20organization,%20says%20oligarchy%22&pg=PA401 401]}}</ref><ref name="USAToday">{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/03/10/oligarchy-government-power-explained/11338810002/|title=This form of government leaves power in the hands of a few: Oligarchies explained|date=March 10, 2023|last=Mulroy|first=Claire|publisher=USA Today|access-date=April 21, 2025}}</ref>

=== Putative oligarchies ===
{{Main|Business oligarch}}

Business groups may be considered oligarchies if they meet the following criteria:
* They are the largest private owners in the country.
* They possess sufficient political power to influence their own interests.
* The owners control multiple businesses, coordinating activities across sectors.<ref name="Chern2018">{{cite journal |last1=Chernenko |first1=Demid |title=Capital structure and oligarch ownership |journal=Economic Change and Restructuring |date=2018 |pages=383–411 |doi=10.1007/S10644-018-9226-9 |volume=52 |issue=4 |s2cid=56232563 |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/83641/1/MPRA_paper_83641.pdf}}</ref>

=== Intellectual oligarchies ===
[[George Bernard Shaw]] coined the concept of an intellectual oligarchy in his play ''[[Major Barbara]]'' (1907). In the play, Shaw criticizes the control of society by intellectual elites and expresses a desire for the empowerment of the common people:<ref>Shaw, Bernard und Baziyan, Vitaly. 2-in-1: English-German. Major Barbara & Major in Barbara. New York, 2020, {{ISBN|979-8692881076}}</ref><blockquote>I now want to give the common man weapons against the intellectual man. I love the common people. I want to arm them against the lawyer, the doctor, the priest, the literary man, the professor, the artist, and the politician, who, once in authority, is the most dangerous, disastrous, and tyrannical of all the fools, rascals, and impostors. I want a democratic power strong enough to force the intellectual oligarchy to use its genius for the general good or else perish.</blockquote>