Explainer: What is Oligarchy, which Joe Biden has mentioned in his farewell speech?

Last Updated:January 17, 2025, 4:05 PM IST

While leaving power, he used the word oligarchy in his farewell speech. He has warned that the policies of America’s democracy are soon going to be handed over to oligarchy. This word was first defined by Aristotle.

The word oligarchy is discussed a lot in Joe Biden’s farewell speech. (symbolic picture)

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has appealed for democracy in his farewell speech. While leaving, he mentioned the threats to democracy and for this he used the word oligarchy. He has said that an oligarchy is taking shape in America with extreme wealth, power and influence, which is actually threatening the entire democracy. But what is this oligarchy? And what does this mean for Biden’s farewell speech? Let us try to understand this.

So where did this word come from??
The meaning of the word oligarchy as understood today is the same which was defined centuries ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In The Politics, he argued that people are “political animals.” They are social by nature, and instinctively want to live in a community.

types of governance
He studied various governments of the ancient world and described them into six types and also divided them into two groups. When leadership works for the good of the people (koine sumpheron) the system of governance can be a monarchy with a single leader ruling. It can be elite rule if there is leadership by a small group and it can be politics if governance is done through collective participation of the people. At the same time, if the Constitution becomes corrupt and the leadership works only to further its own interests, then three different types of governance systems can take shape. He named them tyranny, oligarchy and democracy.

Aristotle was the first to define the word oligarchy. (Symbolic photo: Wikimedia Commons)

What is oligarchy or oligarchy??
Thus for Aristotle, oligarchy is a corrupt form of government. This occurs when power is in the hands of a small group of elites who pursue their own interests rather than the well-being of common people. The interesting thing is that while Aristotle also considered democracy as a corrupt form of governance, oligarchy is still used in a negative sense even today.

no one else can control
The people who created the United States tried to create a Constitution where neither one nor many people could dominate others. Here the power of the President can be controlled by Congress and the Judiciary and his power can be controlled by the media and regular elections.

An attempt was made to make the American system of governance such that it could not be controlled by any one person or group. (Symbolic photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Russia and China
In modern times, the word oligarchy or oligarchy is used in the context of Russia. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the opportunistic rich there made a lot of money by buying state assets like energy companies and financial institutions, etc. and gained considerable political influence and status. After Putin’s arrival in 2000, they were definitely controlled. But a more authoritarian regime took shape in Russia. Despite being a communist state, in China too recently a small group of elites has become very rich and there too an oligarchy is becoming dominant.

After all, where is Biden pointing?
Biden has clearly targeted Donald Trump’s second term. Biden wants to say that now public policy will be shaped not by the people but by the billionaires. The world’s richest businessman Elon Musk is already a vocal supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Apart from this, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Apple owner Tim Cook and Google chief Sundar Pichai have already met Trump. The different thing in this is that most of them have their own media platforms and they have the ability to change public opinion.

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The interesting thing is that Biden is not the first person who has said this. In 2014, many experts said that America had already fallen into the hands of the oligarchy. Biden’s statement only reflects the opinion of those Democrats who say that democratic institutions will be in danger after Trump comes to power.