Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
1: 169-173
Edward Aspinall
In this wide-ranging and important work, Jeffrey Winters offers nothing less
than a new interpretation of the bulk of human history (p. 273). He succeeds
in achieving this ambitious goal. Oligarchy is lucid in its argument, compelling
in its evidence, and at times startling in its claims and conclusions. It deserves
serious consideration by political scientists, sociologists, and political
economists, as well as by a much broader readership of students, political
activists, and concerned citizens.
The book provides a survey of human history that begins in earliest times
and carries through to the present, but which is based around a deceptively
simple thesis and an equally deceptively simple proposition. The thesis is that,
throughout history, most societies have been marked by extreme inequalities
of wealth in which tiny groups of people-oligarchs-enjoy riches far beyond
the reach of most members of those societies. The proposition is that by
understanding the variations in the patterns of this inequality and, especially, in
the means by which it is defended, we will unlock a key to understanding many
of the great conflicts of human history, and the changing nature of political
institutions down the centuries.
To make his case, Winters draws on examples as diverse as the cronyism
of Suhartos Indonesia, the feuds of Appalachian clans in the nineteenth
century, the warring baronies and statelets of medieval Europe, the oligarchs
of the ancient Greco-Roman world, and the industry devoted to minimizing the
tax burden of the super-rich in the contemporary United States. Throughout
this account, which often combines startling juxtapositions (modern mafia
commissions and ancient Athenian oligarchies in one chapter, for instance),
he presents engaging narrative alongside careful analysis of the forms, modes,
and implications of wealth concentration in these otherwise very different
societies.
Edward Aspinall is a Professor in the Department of Political and Social Change, School of
International, Political and Strategic Studies, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National
University. <edward.aspinall@anu.edu.au>
Thus, provided the two realms of power do not clash, oligarchy and
democracy can coexist indefinitely (p. 11). But there is an important rider: