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Oligarchy is a form of government where most power is effectively vested in a small segment of society (typically the wealthiest or most ruthless segment). Oligarchies are often controlled by a few powerful families whose children are raised and groomed as inheritors of the power of the oligarchy, often at some sort of expense to those governed. This power may not be exercised openly, the oligarchs perferring to remain "the power behind the throne," exerting control through economic means.

A society may become an oligarchy by default as an outgrowth of the shifting alliances of warring tribal chieftans, although any form of government may transform into an oligarchy at some point in its evolution. The most likely mechanism for this transformation is a gradual accumulation of otherwise unchecked economic power. Oligarchies may also evolve into more authoritarian forms of government, sometimes as the result of one family gaining asendency over the others. Many of the European monarchies established during the late middle ages began in this manner.

Oligarchies may also become instruments of transformation, insisting that monarchs or dictators share power, thereby opening the door to power sharing by other elements of society. One example of this process occured when English nobles banded together in 1215 to force a relutant King John to sign the Magna Carta, a tacit recognition both of King John's waning power and of the existence of an incipient oligarchy. As English society continued to grow and develop, the Magna Carta was repeatedly revised (1216, 1217, and 1225), guaranteeing greater rights to greater numbers of people, thus setting the stage for British Constitutional monarcy.

See also: dictatorship, monarchy, democracy, crony capitalism