Oligarchic in the context of "Government"

Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting liberty, equality, and security. Although Athens is the most familiar of the democratic city-states in ancient Greece, it was not the only one, nor was it the first; multiple other city-states adopted similar democratic constitutions before Athens. By the late 4th century BC, as many as half of the over one thousand existing Greek cities might have been democracies. Athens practiced a political system of legislation and executive bills. Participation was open to adult, free male citizens (i.e., not a metic, woman or slave). Adult male citizens probably constituted no more than 30 percent of the total adult population.

Solon (in 594 BC), Cleisthenes (in 508–07 BC), and Ephialtes (in 462 BC) contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. Cleisthenes broke up the unlimited power of the nobility by organizing citizens into ten groups based on where they lived, rather than on their wealth. The longest-lasting democratic leader was Pericles. After his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by oligarchic revolutions in 411 and 404 BC, towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. It was modified somewhat after it was restored under Eucleides; the most detailed accounts of the system are of this fourth-century modification, rather than the Periclean system. Democracy was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but how close they were to the original forms of democracy is debated.

Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law. Authoritarian regimes may be either autocratic or oligarchic and may be based upon the rule of a party, the military, or the concentration of power in a single person. States that have a blurred boundary between democracy and authoritarianism have sometimes been characterized as "hybrid democracies", "hybrid regimes" or "competitive authoritarian" states.

The political scientist Juan Linz, in an influential 1964 work, An Authoritarian Regime: Spain, defined authoritarianism as possessing four qualities:

The Taishō era (大正時代, Taishō jidai; [taiɕoː dʑidai] ) was a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30th, 1912 to December 25th, 1926, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taishō. The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen (or genrō) to the Imperial Diet of Japan and the democratic parties. Thus, the era is considered the time of the liberal movement known as Taishō Democracy; it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji era and the following militaristic-driven first part of the Shōwa era.

The Septinsular Republic (Greek: Ἑπτάνησος Πολιτεία, romanized: Heptanēsos Politeia; Italian: Repubblica Settinsulare), also known as the Republic of the Seven United Islands, was an oligarchic republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under nominal Russian and Ottoman sovereignty in the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Paxoi, Lefkada, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Zakynthos or Zante, and Kythira).

Agathocles (Ancient Greek: Ἀγαθοκλῆς, Agathoklḗs; 361–289 BC) was a tyrant of Syracuse from 317 BC and king of much of Sicily from 304 BC until his death. Agathocles began his career as a military officer, and raised his profile as a supporter of the democratic faction in Syracuse against the oligarchic civic government. His opponents forced him into exile and he became a mercenary leader. He eventually made his way back to Syracuse and was elected as a general. A few years later he took control through a coup d'état. In practice he was a tyrant, although a democratic constitution theoretically remained in force.

Agathocles had led a long, costly war against the Carthaginians, who ruled the western half of Sicily, between 311 and 306 BC. In a military campaign he led the invasion of Carthage's North African heartland in 310 BC. After initial successes he abandoned his army in Africa and returned to Sicily in 307 BC, where he made peace with the Carthaginians and restored the status quo ante bellum. He then assumed the royal title and managed to bring almost the entire Greek portion of Sicily, and part of Calabria, under his control. Agathocles came close to of bringing the entirety of Magna Graecia under his control but his attempt to establish a dynasty fell apart as a result of conflict within his family.