Quick Political Explainer: What do "Oligarchy," "Authoritarianism," and "Kleptocracy" mean? Why might someone use these words today?

Senator Bernie Sanders said the following on Face the Nation about the times we are currently living in:

We are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We are looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy. We are looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. And I fear we're looking at a rapid growth of kleptocracy as well.

Bernie Sanders: "We are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We are looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy. We are looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. And I fear we're looking at a rapid growth of kleptocracy as well."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM

And Mariame Kaba brought it to our attention that we need to know "oligarchy," "authoritarianism," and "kleptocracy" mean. Some of the people around us might say otherwise. "Why do you need to know about history or government? That stuff doesn't pay the bills" is one thing we might hear. Or we're told that the future has nothing to do with whether a neighborhood puts up new traffic signs or Congress gives money for AIDS drugs in Africa.

Or, closer to right now, we're told that we don't need the fancy words if something is actually important. Why do we need words like "oligarchy," "authoritarianism," and "kleptocracy?" Because they are strong reminders that bad things take a number of forms and attack us in different ways. They remind us that others have suffered these bad things, too, and have at times fought successfully against them. When I was a teenager, a few of my elders mocked me for wanting to know anything about how government worked. Over my lifetime, I've watched the knowledge I have become more and more valuable, to the point where I myself don't fully understand what it is worth.

So here goes:

• Oligarchy – rule of the few. The opposite of democracy, which in Greek translates into something more like "popular force" (think cracy = "Kratos" from God of War). Oligarchy is bad. There are oligarchs who can do good things individually–MacKenzie Scott has helped a number of schools facing bankruptcy save themselves–but the more oligarchs, the less the people rule. In fact, the less the people have. Some estimate that, in the U.S., 1% of the population has 30% of the wealth. The top 10% has nearly 70% of the wealth. If oligarchy spreads, if there's more of it, it is possible for there to be nothing for anyone else.
  
  Some may tell you that the response to oligarchy is to get rich yourself. Those people are idiots. I'd like you to think for yourself how rich people behave: Do they try to make the market fair for everyone? Do they try to empower their employees? Are you able to save money, or are you spending more money than you have to get to work?
• Authoritarianism – this can be a lot like oligarchy, but it is different. We can have oligarchs rule and still not be authoritarian. Authoritarians want control. They want people to obey. They want to be able to bully others and get away with it. You know examples of authoritarian rule: parents who are too strict; fundamentalist churches that abuse others; countries where a dictator wins the lottery on his birthday (which is a national holiday).
  
  Again, people will tell you this isn't real. Or they might say you don't need to know anything about government or history to deal with this. But we don't have words for no reason. Words tell us that something happened. In the case of authoritarianism, it is all around us in different ways. Think about the manager who tells an employee they can't call out for a funeral. That's not about money, that's not about work. It's all about control. Now imagine that manager is the richest man on earth or the President of the United States. What do you think will happen when they have power over 330 million people?
• Kleptocracy – this is a regime, a government, which steals. It is different from oligarchy and authoritarianism because those forms of rule are not necessarily committed to theft. But in kleptocracy, everything is about theft. Churchill famously described the Nazis as nothing but stealing. They stole from the German people, throwing many of the people they stole from into camps, then started running out of money. So they had to steal places like "Poland" and "France."
  
  A question to ask yourself is how exactly billionaires, our oligarchs, become rich. Can you actually earn a billion dollars through hard work? Through making something that is useful to everyone all the time? It's hard to imagine anyone being that productive. Maybe you could be a millionaire who contributes a lot through their business, but a billionaire is worth 1000 million dollars. So even though we don't talk about it – I mean, we live in a country where pissing off rich people is dangerous – being a billionaire depends on getting a lot more than one should get. The system is stealing money for them. In a kleptocracy, that stealing is made all too obvious. A billionaire with power in government will steer taxpayer dollars right into their wallet. Did you vote for that? If you did, you got played and should be angry.

Senator Sanders says we should take all three of these threats seriously. All three are occurring at the present moment. I think it is wise to listen to the man.