For the social class, see Aristocracy (class). For other uses, see Aristocrat (disambiguation).   This article is part of the Politics series Forms of government   List of government types Anarchy Aristocracy Communist state Confederation Corporatism Corporatocracy Consociationalism Demarchy Democracy Direct Representative Consensus Despotism Dictatorship Autocracy Military/Military junta Right-wing Authoritarianism Totalitarianism Ethnic democracy Ethnocracy Fascism Federation Feudalism Gerontocracy Matriarchy including gynocracy Kratocracy Kritocracy/Kritarchy Kyriarchy Logocracy Meritocracy Minarchism/Night Watchman Monarchy Absolute Constitutional/Limited Diarchy/Co-Kingship Elective Noocracy Ochlocracy/Mobocracy Oligarchy Panarchism Parliamentary Patriarchy Plutocracy Presidential Puppet state Republic Crowned Capitalist Constitutional Single Party Federal Parliamentary Federal Socialist state Sociocracy Sultanism Supranational union Technocracy Thalassocracy Theocracy Islamic state Theodemocracy Timocracy Tribal Chiefdom Tyranny Unitary state Politics portal v · d · e

Aristocracy (from Greek ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power"), is a form of government in which a few of the most famous citizens rule. The term was derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best".1 See Aristocracy (class) for the historical roots of the term. Contents 1 Concept 2 See also 3 Notes 4 References // Concept

The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of famous citizens was commonly used and contrasted with monarchy, in which an individual king held the power. The Ancient Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.2 In Rome, The Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. The Republic ended with the death of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC. Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and often 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 oversimplified.

In Leviathan Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the people is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can represent the public. In this sense it is a blanket term to describe fascism, oligarchies, theocracies, plutocracies, etc... See also Gentry Nobility Old Money Notes ^ The Oxford Companion to British History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1962, ISBN 9780198661764 ^ "Craic". Oxford English Dictionary. December 1989. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50011987?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=aristocracy&first=1&max_to_show=10. Retrieved December 22, 2009.  References History, John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780198661764