10 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Are there examples of oligarchic governments being removed peacefully?
These are interesting questions, but I’d just reinforce the point above. You are describing democratic transitions, not the overthrow of an oligarchic political-economic structure.
As an aside, I don’t know what you mean by communist oligarchies - there were many problems with the Soviet model of government, but it was effective in preventing what Winters (following Aristotle) defines as oligarchy. Again, it seems that the problem is conceptual: we should avoid conflating oligarchy and authoritarianism.
Comment by artisticthrowaway123 at 22/01/2025 at 16:23 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I understand that the Aristotle definition is "rule of the rich", but since wealth inequality is subjective, but the Soviet model absolutely was absolutely not effective at preventing oligarchies from forming, especially the later one. You can check Sergei Guriev's writings on the subject.
In the mid 1980's, a massive shift between oligarchs took place, as the older generation achieved key positions of power through maintaining key positions of power (The nomenklatura), promoted by the apparatchiks, and concentrating the state resources, particularly the fund of the Soviet Party. When Perestroika occurred, a new oligarchy of businessmen started to appear in the system, financed in part and helped by the older oligarchy. When privatization occurred in 1991, it was the now relatively wealthy businessmen of the ex-USSR who bought shares in natural resource companies and thus creating the modern Russian oligarchy we see today.