Oligarchy is a political concept that refers to minority rule, in which few people rule by having access to capital or inherited title. Informally, the term oligarchy can generally refer to a limited group with great power, often in a political system with or without formal democratic elements.
Oligarchs sometimes rule in formal democratic systems where dominant politicians constitute a small elite that recreates its parliamentary influence by controlling key economic resources and extensive personal networks. New democratic states are often used as examples of this, but there are also examples of oligarchy tendencies in established democratic political systems.
