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:
Socially, the marriage alliances of the oligarchy consolidated it as a homogenous, but peculiar group, distinct from both aristocracy and bourgeoisie.
Alternatively, a smaller subset of the citizens may be decisive, as in the case of an oligarchy or personalistic regime.
The persistent interweaving of ancien r'gime oligarchies and the institutions of diplomacy in the end shared the fate e of a decadent regime.
In this central period, the oligarchy was composed mainly of middleranking bureaucrats and servants of the king.
Only the ballots would be burned without being counted, and candidates would be selected by the oligarchy using its traditional undemocratic methods.
This is a social power born of political devolution, and it must have made oligarchy more acceptable.
He lost the support of the core of the settler oligarchy but was unable to build a new political base.
The quality of the existing laws meant that the most important goal of any opponent of oligarchy was to restore their sovereignty.
