Aristocracy

For the social class, see Aristocracy (class).

For other uses, see Aristocrat (disambiguation).

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In the 16th–18th centuries kings of Poland were elected by the nobility in the fields outside Warsaw.

Aristocracy (Greek ἀριστοκρατία aristokratía, from ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power") is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule, that means elitism. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy. In later times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group (the aristocratic class), and contrasted with democracy.

Concept

The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of famous citizens was commonly used and contrasted with direct democracy in which a council of male citizens was appointed as their "senate". The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.

In Rome, the Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and often by wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is often oversimplified.

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the citizens is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can represent the public.

Modern depictions of aristocracy tend to regard it not as a legitimate aristocracy (rule by the best) but rather as a plutocracy (rule by the wealthy).

Advocates of aristocracy

• Aristotle
• Charles Baudelaire
• John Calvin
• G. K. Chesterton
• Julius Evola
• Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer
• Heraclitus
• Theodor Herzl
• D. H. Lawrence
• Joseph de Maistre
• Charles Maurras
• Arthur Moeller van den Bruck
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• José Ortega y Gasset
• Plato
• Oswald Spengler
• Alexis de Tocqueville

See also

• Gentry
• Nobility
• Elitism
• Old Money
• Oligarchy
• Timocracy

References

• History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-19-866176-4
• Aristocracy in the Modern World, Ellis Wasson, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.