Multiple Oligarchy : Aristotle and Contemporary Elite Politics
Contemporary social science and participatory theory has raised the question of whether representative government in large-scale modern states constitutes an oligarchy. Using Aristotle's insight that oligarchy is not a single regime but a spectrum of forms of elite rule, this essay inquires into the precise character of this regime to make sense of the possible roles of participatory politics. First, I introduce Aristotle's theory of oligarchy as a spectrum of regimes ranging from institutions that broadly favor the wealthy, to hereditary and dynastic rule. Second, using Aristotle's framework and his account of hairesis (election or choice), I recast representative government as a regime in constant danger of degenerating toward an extreme form of elite rule that bears critical similarities to Aristotle's hereditary oligarchy. Third, I use Aristotle's framework to assess contemporary representative government. Finally, I argue that participatory reforms take on a new urgency once the nature of contemporary oligarchy is fully understood