OCHLOCRA´TIA
OCHLOCRA´TIA (
ὀχλοκρατία), the dominion of the rabble, or mob-tyranny, a name
of later origin than the time of Aristotle, and applied to that perversion
of a democracy which extends the idea far beyond that of a state where all
have equal legal rights and equal franchise, so that the natural and
wholesome inequalities of society were removed or counteracted by the
introduction of devices, such as paying citizens for attendance in the
popular assembly, or increasing the number and restricting the duration and
authority of public offices. Hence the exercise of all the highest functions
of government came to be practically in the hands of a mere faction,
consisting of the lowest and poorest, though most numerous, class of
citizens, who were thus tempted to adopt as their avocation that which they
would formerly have delegated to others; and the state came to be regarded
as a
property of which each citizen was entitled to
an equal share. In some respects therefore it most nearly represents the
modern idea of a socialist state. Though, however, as was said above,
Aristotle does not recognise the term, we may find perhaps his conception of
the ochlocracy in his “extreme democracy” (
τελενταία δημοκρατία). He says of this that it
corresponds to the extreme oligarchy or
δυναστεία (
Pol. 4.5, p. 1292 b);
and he defines it as a democracy which overrides the constitution:
κύριον εἶναι τὸ πλῆθος καὶ μὴ τὸν νόμον
(whereas in his other kinds of democracy it is in each case
ἄρχειν δὲ τὸν νόμον)
τοῦτο δὲ γίγνεται ὅταν τὰ ψηφίσματα κύρια ᾖ ἀλλὰ μὴ ὁ
νόμος: συμβαίνει δὲ τοῦτο διὰ τοὺς δημαγωγούς. Here we
have no
constitution, except that which may be
formed and re-formed from hour to hour by the hasty legislation of the
masses, following impulse or the voice of the popular leaders: it is clear
that, if this is not exactly the
ὀχλοκρατία described above, it would soon pass into it.
[
C.P.M] [
G.E.M]
