The vizier also ran the pharaoh’s household and ensured the royal family’s safety. He listened to problems between nobles and settled them. The vizier managed the taxation system and monitored the supply of food. He oversaw the political administration and all official documents had to have his seal on them. The vizier was the pharaoh’s second-in-command and sometimes served as High Priest of Amun-Ra. At first, the pharaoh appointed all government positions but soon they became hereditary.
Over time, the royal family left government positions, leaving the nobles to fill them. The royal family made up the original members of the government, the highest position of which was the vizier. Government officials consisted of members of the royal family, nobles and priests. The Pharaoh owned all the land in Egypt but he could gift land to other people as gifts or to award them. The people looked to the pharaoh to ensure their well-being and when s/he did not live up to this expectation s/he had less power. S/he had to maintain the army to defend the country from outside threats and internal difficulties. The people expected the pharaoh to keep the gods happy so the Nile would flood and there would be a good harvest. It was his/her duty to make the law and maintain order in the Kingdom. The Pharaoh was a god on earth and the ultimate authority in Egypt. Stating that a particular form of government is marching towards a plutocracy is therefore a cautionary warning sign that these undesirable actions should be stopped.įor example, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his autobiography, “Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.© Maurizio Zanetti - Statue of Thutmose III In the modern vernacular, the term plutocracy is typically used in a pejorative sense to describe or warn against an undesirable condition. In that scenario, the oppression of the populace is more likely under these forms of government. They are almost always used to convey a negative impression, based on the belief-or fear-that the minority is more likely to work selfishly for its own interests than for the interests of the nation. In many cases, the affluent may influence decision-makers by legal and illegal means, such as lobbying, bribing, and funding election campaigns.īoth terms, plutocracy and oligarchy, represent the voice of a concentrated minority. In a plutocracy, the wealthy rule, but not always by being the elected leaders of the government. The group is chosen because of favorable factors such as military capability, wealth, race, political connections, religion, and education. This was reflected by the increased ability of the wealthy to significantly affect the nation's law-making and election processes, in tandem with the existence of the powerful oil, steel, and railroad monopolies.Īn oligarchy is a system of government in which a small group runs the government. Some modern economists and historians suggest that the United States was effectively plutocratic for the periods between the end of the Civil War (1865) and the start of the Great Depression (1929).
Plutocracy Examplesįamous examples of plutocracies include Ancient Rome, the pre-World War II Empire of Japan, and the pre-Revolutionary Kingdom of France. The democratic concern of a plutocracy is that the wealthy will wish to maintain their power and, therefore, only represent the interests of the wealthy as opposed to people of all levels of education and income. Instead, plutocracies can gradually form by allowing sole access to essential political and educational resources that only the rich can afford. A plutocracy may not be the result of a planned system of government.
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