He argued that there are six forms of government, categorize into ruled by one, ruled by few and ruled by many, each where further divided it into “defective or bad and “true forms or good.”
Aristotle
classification of
government |
Defective or perfected for the interest of the ruler(s) |
Good or “True forms” For the common interest |
Ruled by One |
Tyranny |
Monarchy |
Ruled by Few |
Oligarchy |
Aristocracy |
Ruled by Many |
Democracy |
Polity |
He described that tyrant is a usurper of power or acquired his power by force and rules over unwilling subjects. Based on his book politics: “Any sole ruler, who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny.”
Monarchy is ruled by one person whose authority derived not from election but through heredity. A form of government where the head of state is called often called king, queen, emperor or tsar. A monarch holds his position until death or abdication. Monarchy is classified into two; firstly, absolute monarchy and secondly, limited monarchy. In an absolute monarchy, the power of the king originated from divine right. The doctrine that king source of authority is from God, not from their subjects. Therefore, rebellion is the worst of political crime, for the reason, defying the order of the king is disobeying God. The monarch holds absolute power without constitution limiting it. All the properties of the nation is under complete control of the king.
Aristotle observes that the dominant class in oligarchy (literally rule of the oligoi, i.e., few) is typically the wealthy, whereas in democracy (literally rule of the dêmos, i.e., people) it is the poor, so that these economic classes should be included. He argued that the propriety constitution or government is represented by polity of middle class citizens.
The haves (the rich or bourgeoisie) refer to the thesis or idea in conflict with the have-nots (the poor or proletariat) refer to the anthesis or counter idea. He founded that this would lead to Synthesis or New Idea. It is very evident to his theory that revolution would bring desire change.