"Oligarchic "Democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9201591 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ellen Meiksins Wood (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1989 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 42 |
| Publication date | 1989-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Monthly Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0027-0520 • E-ISSN: 0027-0520 |
| Publisher | Monthly Review Foundation (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.14452/mr-041-03-1989-07_3 |
| OpenAlex | W4212956806 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
For sheer bloody-minded greed and unscrupulous acquisitiveness, the Romans had no equal in the ancient world, and they would have had little to learn on that score from modern "possessive individualism." To someone who does not take the predatory impulses of contemporary capitalism and modern imperialism for granted as a universal law of nature—and maybe even for those who do—this insatiable rapacity is the most striking thing about the ancient Romans. By the time the republican era drew to a close, giving way to an imperial state (conventionally dated from the foundation of the Principate under Augustus Caesar in 27 B.C.), the Roman ruling class had amassed private fortunes of staggering proportions, by means of exploitation and corruption at home (from their landed estates and urban slum tenements, usury, trading in property, government contracts, etc.) and even more spectacularly by the systematic plunder of their expanding Empire. The administration of the Empire provided the Roman aristocracy with unprecedented opportunities for looting and extortion. To hold proconsular office was a sure means of lining the pocket—and for the most prominent Roman oligarchs to consolidate their personal power by acquiring what increasingly amounted to private armies.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website
Ancient history · Aristocracy (class) · Capitalism · Clientelism · Democracy · Empire · Looting · Oligarchy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Private property · Roman Empire · Ruling class · State (computer science) · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Law · Political Theory and Influence
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |