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Aristocracy
 
 
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Aristocracy is a form of government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite
Elite

Elite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant Group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status envied by individuals of lower social status....
, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number. See Aristocracy (class)#History
Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest class in society, who traditionally have a lot of land, money, and power. They are usually below the leaders of the country in the hierarchy of status within the aristocracy form of government....
 for the historical roots of the term.

Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies
Plutocracy

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low....
 (see). They sometimes include a monarch who although a member of the aristocracy, rules over it as well as over the rest of society.

The term "aristocracy" is derived from the Greek language
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 aristokratia, meaning 'the rule of the best'.








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Aristocracy is a form of government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite
Elite

Elite is taken originally from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the elite is a relatively small dominant Group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status envied by individuals of lower social status....
, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number. See Aristocracy (class)#History
Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest class in society, who traditionally have a lot of land, money, and power. They are usually below the leaders of the country in the hierarchy of status within the aristocracy form of government....
 for the historical roots of the term.

Aristocracies have most often been hereditary plutocracies
Plutocracy

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low....
 (see). They sometimes include a monarch who although a member of the aristocracy, rules over it as well as over the rest of society.

The term "aristocracy" is derived from the Greek language
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 aristokratia, meaning 'the rule of the best'.

Comparison with other forms of government

As a government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 term, aristocracy can be compared with:
  • autocracy
    Autocracy

    An autocracy is a form of government in which the political power is held by a single, self-appointed ruler. The term autocrat is derived from the Greek language word 'a?t????t?? ....
     - "rule by self-appointment", such as a dictator
    Dictator

    A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
     or absolute monarch.
  • meritocracy
    Meritocracy

    Meritocracy is a -cracy or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability , rather than by wealth , family connections , social class privilege , friends , seniority , popularity or other historical determinants of social position and political power....
     - "rule by those who most deserve to rule". While this appears to be the same as the original meaning of "aristocracy", the term "meritocracy" has usually implied a much more fluid form of government in which one is, at most, considered "best" for life, but must continually prove one's "merit" in order to stay in power. This power is not passed on to descendants.
  • plutocracy
    Plutocracy

    Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth.In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low....
     - "rule by the wealthy". In actual practice, aristocrats' wealth allows them to portray their own virtues as the "best" ones. Usually, this wealth is passed down through inheritance, and in countries like England may be kept intact through primogeniture
    Primogeniture

    Primogeniture is the common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire Estate , to the exclusion of younger siblings. It is the tradition brought by the Normans to England in 1066....
    , in which the oldest child (usually first male) inherits the bulk of the wealth and titles.
  • oligarchy
    Oligarchy

    Oligarchy is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small Elitism segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family, military influence or occult spiritual hegemony....
     - "rule by the few". Whether an aristocracy is also an oligarchy depends entirely upon one's idea of what is a "few".
  • corpocracy - "rule by large corporations." A society dominated politically and economically by large corporations.
  • monarchy
    Monarchy

    A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged in an individual, who is the head of state, often for Life tenure or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state." The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch....
     - "rule by a single individual". Historically, the vast majority of monarchs have been aristocrats themselves. However, they have also been very often at odds with the rest of the aristocracy, since it was composed of their rivals. The struggle between a ruling dynastic family and the other aristocratic families in the same country has been a central theme of medieval
    Middle Ages

    File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
     history.
  • democracy
    Democracy

    Democracy is a form of government in which power is held directly or indirectly by citizens under a free electoral system. It is derived from the Greek language d?????at?a , "popular government" which was coined from d???? , "people" and ???t?? , "rule, strength" in the middle of the 5th-4th century BC to denote the political syst...
     - "rule by the many". These forms are often mixed together.


See also

  • Plantation aristocrat
    Plantation aristocrat

    In the New World, especially in the southern United States, Brazil and Hispanic America with substantial Mestizo and Indio populations, the institution of large semi-feudal semi-commercial estate created, from the 16th century to contemporary era, a class of wealthy, often hereditary land owners who dominate the lives of their subordinate classes...