HOW OLIGARCHY WORKS 101

This note will explain the basics of how oligarchy, a system in which a country is ruled by a handful of
powerful people (politicians, military generals, religious leaders etc) operates.

There are many types of oligarchies. In some places, the government system may be actually a
dictatorship but what we’ll be talking about in this note is oligarchy with a democractic cover; when
a bunch of people rule behind the guise of democracy, making the citizens incapable of simply voting
them out of office. How does this work?

1. The oligarchs bands together to advance their interest. Note that in an oligarchy, every
oligarch has their specific role (tax collectors, propaganda officers, etc) and the system will
crumble if even one of them stop working to maintain the system. Thus, they reward
themselves equally by taking away the rights of the people (ex: passing policies of lower
taxes for rich people, corruption, etc)

2. They spent effort dividing the common folk, preventing them to make one united voice to
topple down the oligarchy. They do this by creating tensions of people of different groups,
etc. This can sometime goes to the extent that one group feels the reason behind the
country’s lack of prosperity IS the other group and not the oligarchs themselves.

3. They control information so as to build their image, creating an illusion that the oligarchs are
actually working to improve people’s welfare while actually they don’t. (ex: philanthropy,
taking credit everytime something good happens, etc)

Given this context, how can we fight oligarchy then? A seemingly simple answer would be to give
education to people, making them a more rational, and well informed democratic citizen who aren’t
inflamed easily with attempts of dividing the people, not choosing politicians based on persona but
based on policies and track records, etc.