Forms of government
Distribution of Power
- open v. closed societies
Forms of Government
Greek forms of government
- monarchy
- aristocracy:
- is most easily understood as a social class as opposed to a form of government
- as a form of government is a type of oligarchy
- will rule to protect landed interests and family lineages
- in other oligarchies, the elites will rule to protect commercial or other interests
- oligarchy
- rule by elites
- oligarchy v. aristocracy
- students can become confused by the distinction between the two
- oli = "many" but only in the sense of more than rule by pure Aristocratic birth
- oli refers to spread of power to non-landed, non-hereditary elites
- students can become confused by the distinction between the two
- tryanny
- democracy
Modern variations of Greek terms
- Kleptocracy = rule by the corrupt
- from the Greek "kléptō" for "I steal"
- ex. "kelptomaiac" = one who steals impulsively
- Kakistocracy = rule by the worst
- from the Greek "kakistos" for "the worst"
click EXPAND for 1877 use of the term:
American poet James Russell Lowell, 1877:
"What fills me with doubt and dismay is the degradation of the moral tone. Is it or is it not a result of Democracy? Is ours a 'government of the people by the people for the people,' or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?"
from [Wikipedia]
- Corporatocracy = rule by corporations
- Idiocracy = rule by idiots