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What Are Oligarchs?
Time to become familiar with this term
When I encounter words I don’t really understand, my mind just slides right off of them.
“Oligarch” and “oligarchy” are words that do that to my mind. I’ve heard them a lot, but I don’t think I could give you a quick or accurate definition of them.
Looking at what’s happening around the world, though, I believe that “oligarch” is a word we should all learn now.
Forcing myself to learn the definition of “oligarch”
When I go looking for definitions, I often start with Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
Here’s how that source defines the word “oligarch”: “One of a class of individuals who through private acquisition of state assets amassed great wealth that is stored especially in foreign accounts and properties and who typically maintain close links to the highest government circles.”
Merriam-Webster also starts their definition with this phrase: “in Russia and other countries that succeeded the Soviet Union.” This tracks, because the only time I routinely heard the word “oligarchy” is when I hear people talking about Russia in the 1990s.
But is that when the term was created? I went to the Online Etymology Dictionary to see if I could learn…