Plutocracy (plutarchy) is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.

In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. Economic Inequality generally refers to equality of outcome, and is related to the idea of equality of opportunity is high while the level of social mobility Social mobility is the degree to which an individual's family or group's social status can change throughout the course of their life through a system of social hierarchy or stratification. Subsequently, it is also the degree to which an individual's or group's descendants move up and down the class system. The individual or family can move up or is low. This can apply to a multitude of government systems A government is the body within an organization that has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations, control and direct the actions or behavior of the individuals within the organization and deal with everyday administrative issues, as the key elements of plutocracy transcend and often occur concurrently with the features of those systems.

The word plutocracy (Modern Greek: πλουτοκρατία - ploutokratia) is derived from the ancient Greek Greek , an Indo-European language native to the southern Balkan peninsula, is the language of the Greeks. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical Ancient Greek literature root ploutos, meaning wealth and kratein, meaning to rule or to govern.

Usage

The term plutocracy is generally used to describe two distinct concepts: one of a historical nature and one of a modern political nature. The former indicates the political control of the state by an oligarchy An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military or religious hegemony. The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (ὀλίγος olígos) and "rule" (ἀρχή arkhē). Such states are often of the wealthy. Examples of such plutocracies include some city-states A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. The term "city-state" should not be confused with "independent city", which refers to a city which is not administered as part of another local government in Ancient Greece The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization and shaped cultures throughout, the civilization of Carthage Carthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis. According to Roman legend it was founded, the Italian Italy /ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The merchant republics of Venice The Most Serene Republic of Venice (Venetian: Repùblica Vèneta or Repùblica de Venesia, Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia) or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797. It is often referred to as La, Florence The Republic of Florence , or the Florentine Republic, was a city-state that was centered on the city of Florence, located in modern Tuscany, Italy. The republic was founded in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon Margravine Matilda of Tuscany's death. The Florentines formed a commune in Matila's place, Genoa The Most Serene Republic of Genoa was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from the 11th century to 1797, when it was invaded by armies of Revolutionary France under Napoleon. It was then succeeded by the Ligurian Republic, which existed until 1805 before being annexed by the French Empire. Although its restoration was, and pre-WWII Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until its defeat in World War II in 1945 zaibatsus Zaibatsu is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of the Pacific War.

Marxist-Leninist View

Marxism-Leninism Marxism-Leninism is a communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency among the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted as the ideological foundation of the Communist International during Stalin's era believes that all capitalist countries follow a plutocratic government mixed with imperialism The term imperialism commonly refers to a political or geographical domain such as the Ottoman Empire the Russian Empire, the Chinese Empire, or the British Empire, etc., but the term can equally be applied to domains of knowledge, beliefs, values and expertise, such as the empires of Christianity or Islam (see Caliphate). Imperialism is usually, and that the only way to change it is through a mass revolution by the proletariat. The plutocratic government's social mobility deficiency is a result of exploitation of the masses, preventing the workers from moving up.^{[citation needed]}

Modern Political

The second usage of plutocracy is a pejorative A pejorative , as a noun, means a word or phrase that implies disapproval or contempt and is meant to be insulting, impolite, or unkind: "A belittling or disparaging word or expression." When used as an adjective, pejorative is synonymous with derogatory, derisive, dyslogistic, and contemptuous. Standards of politeness limit the use of reference to a disproportionate influence the wealthy are said to have on political process in contemporary society: for example Kevin Phillips Kevin Phillips is an American writer and commentator, largely on politics, economics, and history. Formerly a Republican Party strategist, Phillips has become disaffected with his former party over the last two decades, and is now one of its harshest critics. He is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio, and is a, author and political strategist to U.S. President The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition. The President leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally-elected federal officers Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States (1969–1974) and the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961), argues that the United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the is a plutocracy in which there is a "fusion of money and government."^[1].

Positive influence includes campaign contributions; negative influence includes refusing to support the government financially by refusing to pay taxes, threatening to move profitable industries elsewhere, bribes, and so on. It can also be exerted by the owners and ad Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries buyers of media properties which can shape public perception of political issues. Recent examples include Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KCSG , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation (News Corp). Beginning with one newspaper in Adelaide, Murdoch acquired and started other publications in his native Australia before's News Corp News Corporation is one of the world's largest media conglomerates. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder is Rupert Murdoch's alleged political agendas in Australia, the UK^[2] and the United States or the oil industry oligarchy An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military or religious hegemony. The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (ὀλίγος olígos) and "rule" (ἀρχή arkhē). Such states are often, and billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, which may back right-leaning political action committees (PACs), as well as billionaire George Soros Forbes lists Soros as the 29th-richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $11.0 billion. Soros has given $6 billion to various causes since 1979' efforts to influence US politics by backing left-leaning PACs.

Recently, there have been numerous cases of wealthy individuals and organizations exerting financial pressure on governments to pass favorable legislation. (see: Lobbying Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government . Lobbyists are articulating their interest in governments decisions by lobbying. They are also known to be assisting others to express their viewpoints on the decision making process. It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators,) Most western democracies permit partisan organizations to raise funds for politicians, and it is well-known that political parties frequently accept significant donations from various individuals (either directly or through corporate institutions). Ostensibly this should have no effect on the legislative decisions of elected representatives; however it would be unlikely that no politicians are influenced by these contributions. Some describe these donations as bribes Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in discharge of a public or, although legally they are not. In the United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the, campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns efforts seek to ameliorate this situation. However, campaign finance reform must successfully challenge officials who are beneficiaries of the system which allows this dynamic in the first place. This has led many reform advocates to suggest taxpayer dollars be used to replace private campaign contributions, these reforms are often called clean money, clean elections reform as opposed to simply campaign finance reform which does not address the conflict of interest involved where most or all of the campaign money is from private, often for-profit sources. Critics of so-called clean elections point out that having the government decide which candidates would receive tax dollars and therefore be allowed to run would create an effective dictatorship For some scholars, dictatorship is a form of government that has the power to govern without consent of those being governed, while totalitarianism describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior of the people. In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power and totalitarianism concerns where (instead of private organizations) the government decides who the people can vote for.

Forms of control

A Plutocracy is a government controlled by a minuscule proportion of extremely wealthy individuals found in most societies. In many forms of government, those in power benefit financially, sometimes enough to belong to the aforementioned wealthy class.

Classically, a plutocracy was an oligarchy An oligarchy is a form of government in which power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society distinguished by royal, wealth, intellectual, family, military or religious hegemony. The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" (ὀλίγος olígos) and "rule" (ἀρχή arkhē). Such states are often, which is to say a government controlled by the wealthy few. Usually this meant that these ‘plutocrats’ controlled the executive, legislative and judicial aspects of government, the armed forces, and most of the natural resources. To a certain degree, there are still some situations in which private corporations and wealthy individuals may exert such strong influence on governments, that the effect can arguably be compared to a plutocracy.

If there are no forms of control within the society, the plutocracy can easily collapse into a kleptocracy Kleptocracies are often dictatorships or some other form of autocratic and nepotist government, or lapsed democracies that have transformed into oligarchies.[citation needed] A kleptocratic ruler typically treats his country's treasury as though it were his own personal bank account, "reign of thieves", where the powerholders attempt to confiscate as much public funds as possible as their private property. A kleptocratic state is usually thoroughly corrupt, has very little production and its economy is unstable. Many failed states The term failed state is often used by political commentators and journalists to describe a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government. In order to make this definition more precise, the following attributes, proposed by the Fund for Peace, are often used to characterize a failed represent kleptocracies.

See also

• Corporate abuse A corporate scandal is a scandal involving allegations of unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. A corporate scandal sometimes involves accounting fraud of some sort. A wave of such scandals swept United States companies in 2002
• Corporatocracy Corporatocracy or Corpocracy is a form of government where a corporation, a group of corporations, or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country
• Corporate Republic
• Meritocracy Meritocracy is a system of a government or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability , rather than by wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), class privilege (oligarchy), friends (cronyism), seniority (gerontocracy), popularity (as in democracy) or other
• Netocracy Netocracy was a term invented by the editorial board of the American technology magazine Wired in the early 1990s. A play on the words internet and aristocracy, netocracy refers to a perceived global upper-class that bases its power on a technological advantage and networking skills, in comparison to what is portrayed as a bourgeoisie of a
• Megacorporation "Megacorporation" is a term popularized by William Gibson derived from the combination of the prefix mega- with the word corporation. It has become a term popularly used in cyberpunk literature. It refers to a fictional corporation that is a massive conglomerate, holding monopolistic or near-monopolistic control over multiple markets
• Special interest An interest group is an organization that seeks to influence political decisions. It is a private organization that tries to persuade public officials to act or vote according to group members’ interests
• Anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement is critical of the globalization of capitalism. Participants base their criticisms on a number of related ideas. What is shared is that participants stand in opposition to the unregulated political power of large, multi-national corporations and to the powers exercised through trade agreements. Specifically,
• zaibatsu Zaibatsu is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of the Pacific War
• Chaebol Chaebol ['ʨɛːbəl] refers to a South Korean form of business conglomerate. They are government-supported powerful global multinationals, often larger than entire countries' economies, owning numerous international enterprises. The Korean word means "business family" or "monopoly" and is often used the way "conglomerate&

References

1. ^ NOW with Bill Moyers. Transcript. Bill Moyers Interviews Kevin Phillips. 4.09.04 | PBS
2. ^ Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Rupert Murdoch is effectively a member of Blair's cabinet

Further reading

• Howard, Milford Wriarson (1895). The American plutocracy. New York: Holland Publishing Company.
• Norwood, Thomas Manson (1888). Plutocracy: or, American white slavery; a politico-social novel. New York: The American News Company.
• Pettigrew, Richard Franklin (1921). Triumphant Plutocracy: The Story of American Public Life from 1870 to 1920. New York: The Academy Press.
• Reed, John Calvin (1903). The New Plutocracy. New York: Abbey Press.

External links

• Plutocracycaust An approach to problem awareness.
• Plutocracy An open-source strategy game, wherein players are plutocrats. Currently under development.

Categories: Political philosophy Categories: Social philosophy | Politics | Subfields of political science | Social philosophy Social philosophy is the philosophical study of interesting questions about social behavior . Social philosophy addresses a wide range of subjects, from individual meanings to legitimacy of laws, from the social contract to criteria for revolution, from the functions of everyday actions to the effects of science on culture, from changes in human | Forms of government The main article for this category is Forms of government, discussing the set of political institutions by which a state is organized in order to exert its powers over a political community | Economic problems Categories: Economics | Socioeconomics | Hazards | Problems | Oligarchy

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