0 (government by) a small group of powerful people
1 a government in which power is held by a small group of people
2 the fact of a country being ruled or controlled by a small group of powerful people:
The real difference between oligarchy and democracy is wealth.
3 a country or industry that is controlled by a small group of powerful people, or these people considered as a group:
Because of the added complexity, slightly broader versions of oligarchy rule and conjunctive and even/odd decision rules are needed.
On the contrary, the oligarchy had hoisted itself up into the ranks of titled nobility.
By the midseventeenth century, the process of fusion of the new oligarchy was complete.
Working the system, the society and each other in somewhat different ways, they emerged as part of the oligarchy their activity sustained and strengthened.
Instead, the early colonial communities became fragmented, with oligarchies and tyrannies becoming the successful state forms.
The main problems reviewed here are the openness of this oligarchy and its nobiliary character.
The most distinct feature of this new oligarchy was its profound and multiple links to the crown.
The quality of the existing laws meant that the most important goal of any opponent of oligarchy was to restore their sovereignty.
