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By oligarchy I mean it's gotten to the point where they have such an influence as kicking an MP out [1] for exposing their connections with the prosecutors offi

• goodplay 10y ago
  That's corruption for you. No matter what form of power structure is employed, if you don't have good laws that are uniformly enforced, you'll get corruption, be the structure oligarchical or democratic.
  • chajath 10y ago
    Of course by "oligarchy" I only mean it figuratively. Formally Korea is democracy _de jure_. But the situation is so bad that I'm calling out as an oligarchy _de facto_.
    • goodplay 10y ago
      What I'm attempting to get across is that oligarchies by themselves aren't inherently any worse than other forms of rule. Corruption is what makes them and other forms bad.
      • chajath 10y ago
        Debatable. First, moral and ethical arguments for democracy: fairness, pursuit of happiness etc. Second, empirical argument: in this modern age, democracy tends to fare pretty well in comparison to other forms of government.
        • AstralStorm 10y ago
          You mean Switzerland of course? Elsewhere is a republic. They fare as differently as there are countries that employ it. And each has a different flavour.
          • chajath 10y ago
            Democracy and Republic aren't mutually exclusive. I'd call rule of law with a democratic constitution (written or unwritten), political representation (direct or indirect), respect of human rights and civil rights to be the elements of modern liberal democracy.
          • twblalock 10y ago
            Switzerland is a republic too. Most democracies are either republics or constitutional monarchies. There is no contradiction between being a republic and a democracy unless one unreasonably restricts the definition of democracy to direct democracy. Reasonable definitions of democracy include representative democracy, which is practiced in many republics.
      • AnAfrican 10y ago
        but the argument is that oligarchies are more prone to corruption because power corrupts.
        • AstralStorm 10y ago
          And democracies have attempted to abridge power via separation, rule of law and representation principles. As we see, many republics face problems with all of the above. Including US. Technicalities such as non-majority presidents and strict bipartisan systems... In certain countries like UK, where apparently ruling party was against the strict referendum results. In Poland, where the ruling party is changing the judicial branch to their benefit. Those are not third world banana republics.
      • ionised 10y ago
        Plutocracy is probably a better word to use here.