Oligarchy (from Greekὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos), meaning 'few', and ἄρχω (arkho), meaning 'to rule or to command') is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may be distinguished by nobility, wealth, education or corporate, religious, political, or military control. Such states are often controlled by families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term.
Throughout history, oligarchies have often been tyrannical, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, for which another term commonly used today is plutocracy. In the early 20th century Robert Michels developed the theory that democracies, as all large organizations, have a tendency to turn into oligarchies. In his "Iron law of oligarchy"
he suggests that the necessary division of labor in large organizations
leads to the establishment of a ruling class mostly concerned with
protecting their own power.
This was already recognized by the Athenians in the fourth century BCE: after the restoration of democracy from oligarchical coups, they used the drawing of lots for selecting government officers to counteract that tendency toward oligarchy in government.
They drew lots from large groups of adult volunteers to pick civil
servants performing judicial, executive, and administrative functions (archai, boulē, and hēliastai). They even used lots for posts, such as judges and jurors in the political courts (nomothetai), which had the power to overrule the Assembly.
The modern United States has also been described as an oligarchy
because economic elites and organized groups representing business
interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government
policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have
little or no independent influence.
Putative oligarchies
A business group might be defined as an oligarch if it satisfies the following conditions:
(1) owners are the largest private owners in the country
(2) it possesses sufficient political power to promote its own interests
(3) owners control multiple businesses, which intensively coordinate their activities.
Russian Federation
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and privatization
of the economy in December 1991, privately owned Russia-based
multinational corporations, including producers of petroleum, natural
gas, and metal have, in the view of many analysts, led to the rise of Russian oligarchs.
Ukraine
The Ukrainian oligarchs are a group of business oligarchs that quickly appeared on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after its independence in 1991. Overall there are 35 oligarchic groups.
Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean oligarchs are a group of liberation war veterans who form the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front,
a colonial liberation party. The philosophy of the Zimbabwean
government is that Zimbabwe can only be governed by a leader who took
part in the pre-independence war. The motto of ZANU-PF in Shona is "Zimbabwe yakauya neropa",
meaning Zimbabwe was born from the blood of the sons and daughters who
died fighting for its independence. The born free generation (born since
independence in 1980) has no birthright to rule Zimbabwe.
United States
Some contemporary authors have characterized current conditions in the United States as oligarchic in nature. Simon Johnson
wrote that "the reemergence of an American financial oligarchy is quite
recent", a structure which he delineated as being the "most advanced"
in the world. Jeffrey A. Winters
wrote that "oligarchy and democracy operate within a single system, and
American politics is a daily display of their interplay." The top 1% of the U.S. population by wealth in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928. In 2011, according to PolitiFact and others, the top 400 wealthiest Americans "have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."
In 1998, Bob Herbert of The New York Times referred to modern American plutocrats as "The Donor Class" (list of top donors) and defined the class, for the first time,
as "a tiny group—just one-quarter of 1 percent of the population—and it
is not representative of the rest of the nation. But its money buys
plenty of access."
French economist Thomas Piketty states in his 2013 book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century,
that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little
reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."
A study conducted by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University was released in April 2014,
which stated that their "analyses suggest that majorities of the
American public actually have little influence over the policies our
government adopts." The study analyzed nearly 1,800 policies enacted by
the US government between 1981 and 2002 and compared them to the
expressed preferences of the American public as opposed to wealthy
Americans and large special interest groups.
It found that wealthy individuals and organizations representing
business interests have substantial political influence, while average
citizens and mass-based interest groups have little to none. The study
did concede that "Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic
governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and
association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise."
Gilens and Page do not characterize the US as an "oligarchy" per se;
however, they do apply the concept of "civil oligarchy" as used by Jeffrey Winters
with respect to the US. Winters has posited a comparative theory of
"oligarchy" in which the wealthiest citizens – even in a "civil
oligarchy" like the United States – dominate policy concerning crucial
issues of wealth- and income-protection.
Gilens says that average citizens only get what they want if
wealthy Americans and business-oriented interest groups also want it;
and that when a policy favored by the majority of the American public is
implemented, it is usually because the economic elites did not oppose
it. Other studies have questioned the Page and Gilens study.
In a 2015 interview, former President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States is now "an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery" due to the Citizens United ruling which effectively removed limits on donations to political candidates.
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of
normal civilian functions by a government, especially in response to a
temporary emergency such as invasion or major disaster, or in an occupied territory.
Martial law can be used by governments to enforce their rule over
the public, as seen in multiple countries listed below. Such incidents
may occur after a coup d'état (Thailand in 2006 and 2014, and Egypt in 2013); when threatened by popular protest (China, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, 2009's Iranian Green Movement
that led to the takeover by Revolutionary Guards); to suppress
political opposition (Poland in 1981); or to stabilize insurrections or
perceived insurrections (Canada, the October Crisis
of 1970). Martial law may be declared in cases of major natural
disasters; however, most countries use a different legal construct, such
as a state of emergency.
Martial law has also been imposed during conflicts, and in cases
of occupations, where the absence of any other civil government provides
for an unstable population. Examples of this form of military rule
include post World War II reconstruction in Germany and Japan, the recovery and reconstruction of the former Confederate States of America during Reconstruction Era in the United States of America following the American Civil War, and German occupation of northern France between 1871 and 1873 after the Treaty of Frankfurt ended the Franco-Prussian War.
The Black War
was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and
Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. With an
escalation of violence in the late 1820s, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law in November 1828—effectively providing legal immunity for killing Aboriginal people. It would remain in force for more than three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history.
Brunei
Brunei has been under a martial law since a rebellion occurred on 8 December 1962 known as the Brunei Revolt and was put down by British troops from Singapore. The Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, is presently the head of state and also the Minister of Defense and Commander in Chief of Royal Brunei Armed Forces.
Canada
The War Measures Act was a Government of Canadastatute
that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers,
stopping short of martial law, i.e. the military does not administer
justice, which remains in the hands of the courts. The Act has been
invoked three times: During World War I, World War II, and the October Crisis of 1970. In 1988, the War Measures Act was replaced by the Emergencies Act.
During the colonial era, martial law was proclaimed and applied in the territory of the Province of Quebec during the invasion of Canada by the army of the American Continental Congress in 1775–1776. It was also applied twice in the territory of Lower Canada during the 1837–1838 insurrections. On December 5, following the events of November 1837, martial law was proclaimed in the district of Montréal by Governor Gosford, without the support of the Legislative Assembly in the Parliament of Lower Canada.
It was imposed until April 27, 1838. Martial law was proclaimed a
second time on November 4, 1838, this time by acting Governor John Colborne, and was applied in the district of Montreal until August 24, 1839.
Egypt
Martial law in Egypt: Egyptian-flagged tanks man an apparent checkpoint just outside the midtown Tahrir area during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
In Egypt, a State of Emergency has been in effect almost continuously since 1967. Following the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat
in 1981, a state of emergency was declared. Egypt has been under state
of emergency ever since; the Parliament has renewed the emergency laws
every three years since they were imposed. The legislation was extended
in 2003 and were due to expire at the end of May 2006; plans were in
place to replace it with new anti-terrorism laws. But after the Dahab bombings in April of that year, state of emergency was renewed for another two years. In May 2008 there was a further extension to June 2010.
In May 2010, the state of emergency was further extended, albeit with a
promise from the government to be applied only to 'Terrorism and Drugs'
suspects.
A State of Emergency gives military courts the power to try
civilians and allows the government to detain for renewable 45-day
periods and without court orders anyone deemed to be threatening state
security. Public demonstrations are banned under the legislation. On 10
February 2011, the ex-president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak,
promised the deletion of the relevant constitutional article that gives
legitimacy to State of Emergency in an attempt to please the mass
number of protesters that demanded him to resign. On 11 February 2011,
the president stepped down and the vice president Omar Suleiman
de facto introduced the country to martial law when transferring all
civilian powers from the presidential institution to the military
institution. It meant that the presidential executive powers, the
parliamentary legislative powers and the judicial powers all transferred
directly into the military system which may delegate powers back and
forth to any civilian institution within its territory.
The military issued in its third announcement the "end of the
State of Emergency as soon as order is restored in Egypt". Before
martial law, the Egyptian parliament under the constitution had the
civilian power to declare a State of Emergency. When in martial law, the
military gained all powers of the state, including to dissolve the
parliament and suspend the constitution as it did in its fifth
announcement. Under martial law, the only legal framework within the
Egyptian territory is the numbered announcements from the military.
These announcements could for instance order any civilian laws to come
back into force. The military announcements (communiques) are the de
facto only current constitution and legal framework for the Egyptian
territory. It means that all affairs of the state are bound by the Geneva Conventions.
Iceland
The Icelandic constitution provides no mechanism for the declaration of war, martial law nor state of emergency.
Indonesia
On May 18, 2003, during a military activity in Aceh, under the order of the president, Indonesian Army Chief imposed martial law for a period of six months to offensively eliminate the Acehnese separatists.
Iran
On September
7, 1978, in response to public demonstrations protesting the perceived
government involvement in the death of the son of Ayatollah Khomeini, Mostafa Khomeini, ShahMohammad Reza Pahlavi appointed Chief of Army Staff General Gholam Ali Oveisi as the military governor of the capital city of Tehran.
On September 8, the government effectively declared martial law on the
capital along with several other cities throughout the country, after
which further protests erupted that lead to the army opening fire on a
group of protesters in Tehran's Jaleh Square on the same day. Estimates
on the number of casualties vary; However, according to Iranian human
rights activist Emadeddin Baghi, the number of people killed was 88 of which 64 were gunned down in Jaleh Square. The day is often referred to as Black Friday. Unable to control the unrest, the Shah dissolved the civil government headed by Prime Minister Jafar Sharif-Emami on November 6 and appointed General Gholam Reza Azhari
as the prime minister whom ultimately failed in his efforts to restore
order to the country. As he was preparing to leave the country, the Shah
dissolved the military government and appointed Shapour Bakhtiar,
a reformist critic of his rule, as the new prime minister on January 4,
1979. Bakhtiar's government fell on February 11 and gave rise to the
Islamic Republic and the creation of a new constitution.
In 1916, during the Easter Rising, Lord Wimborne the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, declared martial law to maintain order in the streets of Dublin.
This was later extended both in duration and geographical reach to the
whole of the country with the consent of the British government. Much of
Ireland was declared under martial law by the British authorities
during the Irish War of Independence. A large portion of Ireland was also under de facto martial law during the Irish Civil War.
The current Irish Constitution allows for martial law if the
government declares a state of emergency, however capital punishment is
prohibited in all circumstances, including a state of emergency.
Israel
Military administrative government was in effect from 1949 to 1966 over some geographical areas of Israel having large Arab populations, primarily the Negev, Galilee, and the Triangle. The residents of these areas were subject to martial law. The Israeli army enforced strict residency rules. Any Arab not registered in a census taken during November 1948 was deported.
Permits from the military governor had to be procured to travel more
than a given distance from a person's registered place of residence, and
curfew, administrative detentions, and expulsions were common.
Although the military administration was officially for geographical
areas, and not people, its restrictions were seldom enforced on the
Jewish residents of these areas. In the 1950s, martial law ceased to be
in effect for those Arab citizens living in predominantly Jewish cities, but remained in place in all Arab localities within Israel until 1966.
Following the 1967 war, in which the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip,
Golan Heights in Syria, and Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, martial law over
the Palestinian population as well as the Jordanian, Syrian, and
Egyptian populations in these areas was put in place. In 1993, Israel
agreed to give autonomy to the people of Gaza and disengaged militarily
from Gaza from 2005 until 2007, when a military blockade was put in
place on Gaza in response to the election of Hamas to the local
government.
During the 2006 Lebanon war, martial law was declared by Defense Minister Amir Peretz over the north of the country. The Israel Defense Forces
were granted the authority to issue instructions to civilians, and to
close down offices, schools, camps and factories in cities considered
under threat of attack, as well as to impose curfews on cities in the
north.
Instructions of the Home Front Command are obligatory under martial law, rather than merely recommended. The order signed by Peretz was in effect for 48 hours and was extended by the Cabinet and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee over the war's duration.
Mauritius
Mauritius
is known as being a "Westminster" style of democracy but a peculiar
system that was imposed in Mauritius during a period of civil unrest in
1968 as an emergency measure, has never been repealed and is still used
by the police force there to this day.
The system, which has no apparent foundation in the constitution of
Mauritius, enables the police to arrest without having to demonstrate
reasonable suspicion that a crime has been carried out but simply on the
submission of "provisional information" to the magistrate. The accused
is then placed on remand or bail and required to report to the police or
the court on a regular basis, sometimes every day. There are examples
of this system being used to intimidate or coerce individuals in civil
litigations.
Pakistan
Martial law was declared in Pakistan
on 7 October 1958, by President Iskander Mirza who then appointed
General Muhammad Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law Administrator and
Aziz Ahmad as Secretary General and Deputy Chief Martial Law
Administrator. However, three weeks later General Ayub—who had been
openly questioning the authority of the government before the imposition
of martial law—deposed Iskandar Mirza on 27 October 1958 and assumed
the presidency that practically formalized the militarization of the
political system in Pakistan. Four years later a new document,
Constitution of 1962, was adopted. The second martial law was imposed on
25 March 1969, when President Ayub Khan abrogated the Constitution of
1962 and handed over power to the Army Commander-in-Chief, General Agha
Mohammad Yahya Khan. On assuming the presidency, General Yahya Khan
acceded to popular demands by abolishing the one-unit system in West
Pakistan and ordered general elections on the principle of one man one
vote.
The third was imposed by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first civilian
to hold this post in Pakistan after the Bangladesh Liberation War. On 21
December 1971, Bhutto took this post as well as that of President.
The fourth was imposed by the General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq on 5 July 1977. After several tumultuous years, which witnessed the secession of East Pakistan, politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
took over in 1971 as the first civilian martial law administrator in
recent history, imposing selective martial law in areas hostile to his
rule, such as the country's largest province, Balochistan. Following widespread civil disorder, General Zia overthrew Bhutto and imposed martial law in its totality on July 5, 1977, in a bloodless coup d'état. Unstable areas were brought under control through indirect military action, such as Balochistan under Martial Law Governor, General Rahimuddin Khan. Civilian government resumed in 1988 following General Zia's death in an aircraft crash.
On October 12, 1999, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was dissolved, and the Army took control once more. But no martial law was imposed. General Pervez Musharraf took the title of Chief Executive until the President of PakistanRafiq Tarar resigned and General Musharraf became president. Elections were held in October 2002 and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali became Prime Minister of Pakistan. Jamali premiership was followed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Shaukat Aziz.
While the government was supposed to be run by the elected prime
minister, there was a common understanding that important decisions were
made by the President General Musharraf.
On November 3, 2007, President General Musharraf declared the
state of emergency in the country which is claimed to be equivalent to
the state of martial law as the constitution of Pakistan of 1973 was
suspended, and the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court were fired.
On November 12, 2007, Musharraf issued some amendments in the Military Act, which gave the armed forces some additional powers.
The country was under martial law again from 1972 to 1981 under President Ferdinand Marcos. Proclamation № 1081
("Proclaiming a State of Martial Law in the Philippines") was signed on
21 September 1972 and came into force on 22 September. The official
reason behind the declaration was to suppress increasing civil strife
and the threat of a communist takeover, particularly after a series of bombings (including the Plaza Miranda bombing) and an assassination attempt on Defense MinisterJuan Ponce Enrile in Mandaluyong.
The policy of martial law was initially well received, but it eventually proved unpopular as the military's human rights abuses (e.g. use of torture in intelligence gathering, forced disappearances),
along with the decadence and excess of the Marcos family and their
allies, had emerged. Coupled with economic downturns, these factors
fermented dissent in various sectors (e.g. the urban middle class) that crystallised with the assassination of jailed oppositionist senatorBenigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983, and widespread fraud in the 1986 snap elections. These eventually led to the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos and forced him into exile in Hawaii where he died in 1989; his rival presidential candidate and Aquino's widow, Corazon, was installed as his successor.
During this 9-year period, curfews were implemented as a safety
measure. Majority of radio and television networks were suspended.
Journalists who were accused of speaking against the government were
taken as political prisoners, some of them to be physically abused and
tortured by the authorities.
Others have stated that the implementation of Martial Law was
taken advantage by the Marcos regime. Billion pesos worth of property
and ill-gotten wealth was said to be acquired by Marcos' consort, First LadyImelda Marcos. This alleged money laundering issue was brought back recently, particularly in the PiliPinas Debates 2016
for the recently held Philippine Presidential Elections on May 9, 2016.
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., Marcos' son, ran for the Vice
Presidency and lost.
There were rumours that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was planning to impose martial law to end military coup d'etat plots, general civilian dissatisfaction, and criticism of her legitimacy arising from the dubious results of the 2004 presidential elections. Instead, a State of National Emergency was imposed in 2006 from 24 February to 3 March, in order to quash a coup attempt and quell protesters.
On 4 December 2009, President Arroyo officially placed the Province of Maguindanao under a state of martial law through Proclamation № 1959. As with the last imposition, the declaration suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the province.
The announcement came days after hundreds of government troops were
sent to the province to raid the armories of the powerful Ampatuan clan.
The Ampatuans were implicated in the massacre of 58 persons, including women from the rival Mangudadatu clan,
human rights lawyers, and 31 media workers. Cited as one of the
bloodiest incidents of political violence in Philippine history, the
massacre was condemned worldwide as the worst loss of life of media
professionals in one day.
Martial law was introduced in Communist Poland on December 13, 1981 by Generals Czesław Kiszczak and Wojciech Jaruzelski
to prevent democratic opposition from gaining popularity and political
power in the country. Thousands of people linked to democratic
opposition, including Lech Wałęsa,
were arbitrarily arrested and detained. About 100 deaths are attributed
to the martial law, including 9 miners shot by the police during the
pacification of striking Wujek Coal Mine.
The martial law was lifted July 22, 1983. Polish society is divided in
opinion on the necessity of introduction of the martial law, which is
viewed by some as a lesser evil compared to alleged Soviet military intervention.
There are no provisions for martial law as such in Switzerland. Under the Army Law of 1995, the Army can be called upon by cantonal (state) authorities for assistance (Assistenzdienst). This regularly happens in the case of natural disasters or special protection requirements (e.g., for the World Economic Forum in Davos).
This assistance generally requires parliamentary authorization, though,
and takes place in the regular legal framework and under the civilian
leadership of the cantonal authorities. On the other hand, the federal
authorities are authorized to use the Army to enforce law and order when
the Cantons no longer can or want to do so (Ordnungsdienst). With this came many significant points of reference. This power largely fell into disuse after World War II.
Syria
The martial law regime between the 1963 Syrian coup d'état and 2011 is the longest ranging period of active martial law.
Taiwan
Following World War II, the island of Taiwan came back to China's
control given the impending withdrawal of Japanese forces and colonial
government. Martial law was declared in 1949 despite the democracy
promised in the Constitution of the Republic of China (the Republic of China refused to implement the constitution on Taiwan until after 1949). After the Nationalist-led Republic of China government lost control of the mainland to the Communist Party of China
and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the perceived need to suppress
Communist activities in Taiwan was utilised as a rationale for not
lifting martial law until thirty-eight years later in 1987, just prior
to the death of then President Chiang Ching-kuo. Taiwan's period of martial law was one of the longest in modern history, after that of Syria (1967-2011).
Thailand
Martial law in Thailand derives statutory authority from the Act promulgated by King Vajiravudh following the abortive Palace Revolt of 1912,
entitled "Martial Law, B.E. 2457 (1914)". Many coups have been
attempted or succeeded since then, but the Act governing martial law,
amended in 1942, 1944, 1959 and 1972, has remained essentially the
same. In January 2004, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, declared a state of martial law in the provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat in response to the growing South Thailand insurgency. On September 19, 2006, Thailand's army declared martial law following a bloodless military coup in the Thai capital of Bangkok, declared while Prime Minister Shinawatra was in New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly. General Sonthi Boonyaratglin took the control of the government, and soon after handed the premiership to ex-Army Chief General Surayud. Sonthi himself is Chief of the Administrative Reform Council. At 3 am, on May 20, 2014, following seven months of civil and political unrest, Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha, declared martial law nationwide.
Turkey
Since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 the military conducted three coups d'état and announced martial law. Martial law between 1978 and 1983 was replaced by a State of emergency
in a limited number of provinces that lasted until November 2002. On
July 15, 2016 a section of the military in Turkey attempted a
coup(failed) and said to have implied martial law in a broadcast on
their national television TRT.
Ukraine
2018 martial law in parts of Ukraine
The restrictions from martial law were defined in a 2015 law "On the
Legal Regime of Martial Law". The president decides on the declaration
of martial law and then parliament must approve it.
On 26 November 2018, lawmakers in the Ukraine Parliament
overwhelmingly backed the imposition of martial law along Ukraine's
coastal regions and those bordering Russia and Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova which has Russian troops stationed in its territory, in response to the firing upon and seizure
of Ukrainian naval ships by Russia near the Crimean peninsula a day
earlier. A total of 276 lawmakers in Kiev backed the measure, which took
effect on 28 November 2018 and will automatically expire in 30 days.
SFR Yugoslavia
During the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, a "State of Direct War Threat" was declared. Although forces from the whole SFRY were included in this conflict, martial law was never announced, but after secession, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina declared martial law. On March 23, 1999, a "State of Direct War Threat" was declared in Yugoslavia, following the possibility of NATO
air-strikes. The day after strikes began, martial law was declared,
which lasted until June 1999, although strikes ended on June 10,
following Kumanovo Treaty.
The martial law concept in the United States is closely tied with the right of habeas corpus,
which is in essence the right to a hearing on lawful imprisonment, or
more broadly, the supervision of law enforcement by the judiciary. The
ability to suspend habeas corpus is related to the imposition of martial law. Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution states, "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus
shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion
the public Safety may require it." There have been many instances of
the use of the military within the borders of the United States, such as
during the Whiskey Rebellion and in the South during the Civil Rights Movement,
but these acts are not tantamount to a declaration of martial law. The
distinction must be made as clear as that between martial law and military justice: deployment of troops does not necessarily mean that the civil courts cannot function, and that is one of the keys, as the Supreme Court noted, to martial law.
A police state is a government that exercises power arbitrarily through the power of the police force.
Originally, a police state was a state regulated by a civil
administration, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has
"taken on an emotional and derogatory meaning" by describing an
undesirable state of living characterized by the overbearing presence of
the civil authorities.
The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their
mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or
other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement.
Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force that operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state. Robert von Mohl, who first introduced the rule of law to German jurisprudence, contrasted the Rechtsstaat ("legal" or "constitutional" state) with the anti-aristocraticPolizeistaat ("police state").
History of usage
The Oxford English Dictionary
traces the phrase "police state" back to 1851, when it was used in
reference to the use of a national police force to maintain order in Austria.[4] The German term Polizeistaat came into English usage in the 1930s with reference to totalitarian governments that had begun to emerge in Europe.
Because there are different political perspectives as to what an
appropriate balance is between individual freedom and national security,
there are no objective standards defining a police state.
This concept can be viewed as a balance or scale. Along this spectrum,
any law that has the effect of removing liberty is seen as moving
towards a police state while any law that limits government oversight of
the populace is seen as moving towards a free state.
An electronic police state
is one in which the government aggressively uses electronic
technologies to record, organize, search and distribute forensic
evidence against its citizens.
In Iran, during the reign of the ShahReza Shah Pahlavi,
from 1925 to 1941, there was an increased police presence who arrested
and tortured many people who were against his rule. Police presence and
surveillance increased even more under the rule of Reza Shah's son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, from 1941 to 1979, with the creation of the SAVAK
secret police. They were seen positioned on every street corner and
were fiercely loyal to the Shah's rule and arrested and tortured many
people; this reign also saw a sharp increase in political prisoners. Public anger and mass uprisings against the Shah led to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 led by AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini, which resulted in the overthrow of the Shah's reign and thus the abolishing of the Iranian monarchy and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
ending the over-2,500-year history of the monarchy. Police presence
once again increased and worsened drastically with the creation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in particular the morality police, the Basij militia, who forcefully uphold Islamic law on civilians.
Nazi Germany emerged from an originally democratic government, yet gradually exerted more and more repressive controls over its people in the lead-up to World War II. In addition to the SS and the Gestapo,
the Nazi police state used the judiciary to assert control over the
population from the 1930s until the end of the war in 1945.
During the period of apartheid, South Africa maintained police-state attributes such as banning people and organizations, arresting political prisoners, maintaining segregated living communities and restricting movement and access.
Augusto Pinochet's Chile operated as a police state,
exhibiting "repression of public liberties, the elimination of
political exchange, limiting freedom of speech, abolishing the right to
strike, freezing wages".
Tunisia under president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali
was considered one of the most repressive police states in the world,
the number of government informants reached at some point 70-80% of the
adult population. police bribing and power abuse were (and even after the revolution are) very common.
The region of modern-day North Korea has long had elements of a police state, from the Juche-style Silla kingdom, to the imposition of a fascist police state by the Japanese, to the totalitarian police state imposed and maintained by the Kim family. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has ranked North Korea last or second last in their test of press freedom since the Press Freedom Index's introduction, stating that the ruling Kim family control all of the media.
In response to government proposals to enact new security measures to curb protests, the government of the AK Party has been accused of turning Turkey into a police state.
Since the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, the military government of Egypt
has taken dramatic steps to crack down on freedom of religion and
expression, leading to accusations that it has effectively become a
"Revolutionary Police State".
Fictional police states
Fictional police states have featured in a number of media ranging from novels to films to video games. George Orwell's 1984 has been described as "the definitive fictional treatment of a police state, which has also influenced contemporary usage of the term".
In politics, a mafia state is state system where the government is tied with organized crime, including when government officials, police, and/or military take part in illicit enterprises. The term mafia is a reference to any organized crime groups strongly connected with the authorities.
According to the critics of the mafia state concept, the term
"has now been so used and abused in popularized descriptions of
organized criminal activity that it has lost much of its analytic
value".
In a critical review of Moisés Naím's essay in Foreign Affairs, Peter Andreas pointed to the long existence of Italian mafia and Japanese Yakuza, writing that there were close relationships between those illicit organisations and respective governments. According to Andreas, these examples speak against incidences of mafia states as a historically new threat.
In Italy, there are three main mafia organisations that originated in the 19th century: the Cosa Nostra originating from the region of Sicily, the Camorra originating from the region of Campania, and the 'Ndrangheta originating from the region of Calabria.
Former Prime Minister of Italy, Giulio Andreotti, had legal action against him, with a trial for mafia association on 27 March 1993 in the city of Palermo.
The prosecution accused the former prime minister of "[making]
available to the mafia association named Cosa Nostra for the defense of
its interests and attainment of its criminal goals, the influence and
power coming from his position as the leader of a political faction". Prosecutors said in return for electoral support of Salvo Lima
and assassination of Andreotti's enemies, he had agreed to protect the
Mafia, which had expected him to fix the Maxi Trial. Andreotti's defense
was predicated on character attacks against the prosecution's key
witnesses who were themselves involved with the mafia. Andreotti was eventually acquitted on 23 October 1999. However, together with the greater series of corruption cases of Mani pulite, Andreotti's trials marked the purging and renewal of Italy's political system.
The Camorra Casalesi clan
rose in the 1980s, gaining control of large areas of the local economy
"partly by manipulating politicians and intimidating judges". The clan was heavily involved in the Naples waste management crisis
that dumped toxic waste around Campania in the 1990s and 2000s; the
boss of the clan, Gaetano Vassallo, admitted to systematically working
for 20 years to bribe local politicians and officials to gain their
acquiescence to dumping toxic waste.
Countries described as Mafia states
Republics and territories of the former Yugoslavia
Kosovo, a partially recognised independent state formerly part of Serbia, was called a "mafia state" by Italian MEP Pino Arlacchi in 2011, and also by Moisés Naím in his 2012 essay "Mafia States" in the Foreign Affairs. Naím pointed out that Prime Minister of KosovoHashim Thaçi
is allegedly connected to the heroin trade. Many other crime
allegations have been made, and investigated by several countries,
against Thaçi.
Transnistria, an unrecognised break-away state from Moldova, has long been described by journalists, researchers, politicians and diplomats as a quasistate whose economy is dependent on contraband and gunrunning.
For instance, in 2002, Moldova's president, Vladimir Voronin, called Transnistria a "residence of international mafia", "smuggling stronghold" and "outpost of Islamic combatants". The allegations were followed by attempts of customs blockade. Reacting to the allegations, Russian state-run RTR aired an investigative program revealing that Transnistrian firms were conducting industrial-level manufacturing of small arms purposely for subsequent illegal trafficking via the Ukrainian port of Odessa. According to the program, the trade was controlled by and benefited from Transnistria's founder and then-ruler Igor Smirnov.
However, more recent investigations and monitoring missions did not prove continuity in arms trafficking
concerns. According to regular reports of the European Border
Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), there have been no
signs of significant weapons smuggling from Transnistria.
During the press-conference on 30 November 2006 head of EUBAM Ferenc
Banfi officially stated that organised smuggling of weapons in
Transnistria did not exist. In 2013, Ukrainian Foreign Minister and acting chairman of the OSCE Leonid Kozhara gave an interview to El País
newspaper, commenting on situation in Transnistria and results of work
of the EUBAM mission. According to Kozhara, there have been no cases of
arms traffic found.
Some experts from Russia and Transnistria state that allegations
of Transnistria being a "mafia state", "black hole of Europe", "heaven
for arms trafficking", etc. are a carefully planned defamation campaign
paid by the Moldovan government and aimed at producing negative image of
Transnistria. Officials from the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
say they have no evidence that the Tiraspol regime has ever trafficked
arms or nuclear material. Much of the alarm is attributed to efforts by
the Moldovan government to increase pressure on Transdniester.
Russia
The term has been used by defectorAlexander Litvinenko and some Western media to describe the political system in Russia under Vladimir Putin's rule. This characterization came to prominence following the United States diplomatic cables leak, which revealed that US diplomats viewed Russia as "a corrupt, autocratickleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafia state.'" In his book titled Mafia State, journalist and author Luke Harding argues that Putin has "created a state peopled by ex-KGB and FSB officers, like himself, [who are] bent on making money above all." In the estimation of American diplomats, "the government [of Russia] effectively [is] the mafia."
According to the New Statesman,
"the term had entered the lexicon of expert discussion" several years
before the cables leak, "and not as a frivolous metaphor. Those most
familiar with the country had come to see it as a kleptocracy with
Vladimir Putin in the role of capo di tutti capi, dividing the spoils and preventing turf wars between rival clans of an essentially criminal elite."
In 2008, Stephen Blank noted that Russia under Putin is "a state that
European officials privately call a Mafia state" that "naturally
gravitates toward Mafia-like behavior."
Nikolay Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said
"it's pretty hard to damage the Russian image in the world because it's
already not very good".
Mexico
The scholar of Law and EconomicsEdgardo Buscaglia describes the political system of Mexico
as a "Mafiacracy". Buscaglia characterises the condition between the
state, the economy and organized crime in Mexico as a mutual
interweaving, Mexico has also been labeled as a Narco-state
(a country where the political power and the economy it's closely
related and its relies highly on protecting the drug trafficking
mafias).
Malta
Jonathan Benton, the former head of a United Kingdom anti-corruption agency, described Malta
as a “mafia state” where money laundering transactions of hundreds of
millions of euros are made every year without any problem. He made this
statement while speaking on BBC radio following the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Other
Moisés Naím, the author of Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy, wrote in an article for the American magazine Foreign Policy: "In mafia states such as Bulgaria, Guinea-Bissau, Montenegro, Myanmar (also called Burma), Ukraine, and Venezuela, the national interest and the interests of organised crime are now inextricably intertwined."
In 2010, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
had labelled Switzerland as a mafia state, stating that "Switzerland is
behaving like a criminal organisation and it is involved in money
laundering, assassinations and terrorism."
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