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Ochlocracy (Greek: οχλοκρατια; Latin: ochlocratia) is government by mob or a mass of people, or the intimidation of constitutional authorities. In English, the word mobocracy is sometimes used as a synonym. Anarchist redirects here. ... The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with rule by the best. This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. ... An Autocracy is a form of government in which unlimited power is held by a single individual. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy,[1] comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. ... Representative democracy is a form of democracy founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the peoples representatives. ... Despotism is a form of government by a single authority, either a single person (ie. ... A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by a dictator. ... Fascism (IPA: ) is a political ideology and mass movement that seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive biological, cultural, and/or historical terms, above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community. ... Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste. ... Kleptocracy (sometimes Cleptocracy) (root: Klepto+cracy = rule by thieves) is a pejorative, informal term for a government that is corrupt in its management of public funds in the sense that its management is designed to primarily sustain the personal wealth and political power of government officials and their cronies (collectively... A Krytocracy is a government ruled by judges. ... Places where monarchies maintain rule appear in blue. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Oligarchy (Greek , Oligarkhía) is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small, elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military prowess). ... A plutocracy is a form of government where the states power is centralized in an affluent social class. ... For other uses, see Republic (disambiguation). ... States in which a single party is constitutionally linked to power are coloured in brown. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Terminology

Ochlocracy is sometimes employed as a pejorative term for majoritarianism. Additionally, as a term in civics it implies that there is no formal authority whatsoever, not even a commonly-accepted view of anarchism, and so disputes are raised, contended and closed by brute force − might makes right, but only in a very local and temporary way, as another mob or another mood might just as easily sway a decision. It is often associated with demagoguery and the rule of passion over reason. A word or phrase is pejorative if it implies contempt or disapproval. ... Majoritarianism is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. ... Civics is the science of comparative government and means of administering public trusts—the theory of governance as applied to state institutions. ... In politics, authority (Latin auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to potestas and imperium) is often used interchangeably with the term power. However, their meanings differ. ... Anarchist redirects here. ... In computer science, a brute-force search consists of systematically enumerating every possible solution of a problem until a solution is found, or all possible solutions have been exhausted. ... Might makes right is an aphorism with several potential meanings: First, it can describe a morality which dictates that those who are the strongest will rule — and should rule — others and have the power to determine right and wrong. ... Demagogy is generally a method of convincing a listener by appealing to the persons common sense and leaps of logic. ...

The term appears to have been coined by Polybius in his Histories (6.4.6) [1]. He uses it to name the 'pathological' version of popular rule in opposition to the 'good' version, which he refers to as democracy. There are numerous mentions of the word "ochlos" in the Talmud (where "ochlos" refers to anything from "mob," "populace" to "armed guard"), as well as in Rashi, a Jewish commentary on the Bible. The word is recorded in English since 1584, derived from the French ochlocratie (1568), which stems from the original Greek okhlokratia, from okhlos "mob" and kratos "rule, power, strength" Polybius (c. ... The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (Hebrew: תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... For the astrological concept, see Jyotish#Rashi - the signs. ...

An ochlocrat is one who is an advocate or partisan of ochlocracy. It can also used as an adjective ochlocratic or ochlocratical.

Whether or not the decisions enforced by a mob are good or bad is another matter entirely.

The threat of mob rule (not unlike the term tyranny of the majority) is often invoked -often rhetorically- against a democracy by those who oppose its majoritary decisions, sometimes fearing oppression of the needs or freedoms of minorities if democratic government is not efficiently restrained by protections given to individuals under the rule of law, sometimes concerned that demagogery may manipulate the mob and force popular currents of thought onto minority groups without respect for their or the invididual's rights. There are also some who wish to see more power assigned to a certain ruling minority. // Balancing scales are symbolic of how law mediates peoples interests For other senses of this word, see Law (disambiguation). ... The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sociological sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has... Minoritarianism (often also called minority rule) is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a segment of a countrys population (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) to which a minority of its citizens belong is entitled to obstruct political progress sought by a majority...

A mob, however massive, and regardless of claims to speak for 'the people', may or may not be representative of the (often silent) majority in a large society (which usually practices indirect democracy). It may be composed of a specific segment of the population interested in a specific issue, and drawn from a limited geographical space or it maybe a representative popular majority. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into List of types of democracy. ...

Mobs in history

Historians often comment on mob rule as a factor in the rise of Rome and its maintenance, as the city of Rome itself was large − between 100,000 and 250,000 citizens − while the aristocracy and even military was very small by comparison to the citizenry. With weapons also being crude, the military force did not exist that could have dealt with a revolt from the larger populace. There was a constant need to keep people fed, distracted, and in awe of the power of the state. Those who could do this, ruled not only Rome, but the whole of the Roman Empire. This is a list of historians. ... The rise of Rome to dominate the overt politics of Europe, North Africa and the Near East completely from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, is the subject of a great deal of analysis by historians, military strategists, political scientists and increasingly also some economists. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,500 km²  (580 sq mi... The Ancient Greek term aristocracy meant a system of government with rule by the best. This is the first definition given in most dictionaries. ... The phrase panem et circenses (bread and circuses) is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman satiric poet of the 1st century AD, to describe the primary pursuits of the Roman populace. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...

Lapses in this control often led to loss of power, or even the loss of heads, of officials − most notably in the reign of Commodus when Cleander unwisely used the Praetorian Guard against a mob which had come to call for his head. As Edward Gibbon relates it, Coin of Bruttia Crispina Augusta, wife of Commodus. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). ...

"The people... demanded with angry clamors the head of the public enemy. Cleander, who commanded the Praetorian Guards, ordered a body of cavalry to sally forth and disperse the seditious multitude. The multitude fled with precipitation towards the city; several were slain, and many more were trampled to death; but when the cavalry entered the streets their pursuit was checked by a shower of stones and darts from the roofs and windows of the houses. The foot guards, who had long been jealous of the prerogatives and insolence of the Praetorian cavalry, embraced the party of the people. The tumult became a regular engagement and threatened a general massacre. The Praetorians at length gave way, oppressed with numbers; and the tide of popular fury returned with redoubled violence against the gates of the palace, where Commodus lay dissolved in luxury and alone unconscious of the civil war... Commodus started from his dream of pleasure and commanded that the head of Cleander should be thrown out to the people. The desired spectacle instantly appeased the tumult..." Soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat are commonly known as cavalry (from French cavalerie). ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight against each other for the control of political power. ...

This followed a previous incident in which the legions of Britain had demanded and received the death of Perennis, the prior administrator. The mob thus realized that it had every chance of success. This is a list of Roman legions. ...

Mobs used to affect policy

During the French Revolution, the mobs in Paris played a similar function, but were more carefully manipulated by political leaders who sensed that they had the power to dispose of monarchy entirely, as they did, eventually setting up a representative democracy (which in turn fell to Napoleon's model of semi-constitutional monarchy). The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a vital period in the history of France and Europe as a whole. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region ÃŽle-de-France Department Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area¹ 86. ... Places where monarchies maintain rule appear in blue. ... Representative democracy is a form of democracy founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the peoples representatives. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

The modern theories of civil disobedience and satyagraha bear some resemblance to mob rule and its mechanics. Certainly it is quite frightening for large numbers of people, even peaceful ones, to be marching and shouting common demands, if one is charged with the uncomfortable task of refusing them. If Roman guards, facing crucifixion for disobedience, could be swayed by mobs, it is obviously possible also to sway modern police even in a police state. The 1986 EDSA Revolution in the Philippines, the Velvet Revolution in former Czechoslovakia, and the resistance to the military coup in the Soviet Union in 1991 that led to the collapse of that state, are situations where it is possible that it was the "mob" which won the day due to defections by authority. It has been suggested that Civil and social disobedience be merged into this article or section. ... Mohandas Karamchand Mahatma Gandhi, who is credited with creating the concept of Satyagraha Satyagraha (Sanskrit: सत्याग्रह satyāgraha) is the philosophy of nonviolent resistance most famously employed by Mohandas Gandhi in forcing an end to the British Raj in India and also during his struggles in South Africa. ... Crucifixion of St. ... A police state is a political condition where the government maintains strict control over society, particularly through suspension of civil rights and often with the use of a force of secret police. ... The EDSA Revolution, also referred to as the People Power Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986, was a mostly nonviolent mass demonstration in the Philippines. ... Non-violent protesters are fighting with flowers against armored policemen The Velvet Revolution (Czech: sametová revoluce, Slovak: nežná revolúcia) (November 16 – December 29, 1989) refers to a bloodless revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the communist government there. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ...

Whether by intent or by circumstance, non-violent well-organized assemblies often degrade into unruly mobs. Provocation from within (such as an agent provocateur) and from external forces is often a factor, but crowd dynamics often spontaneously emerge to confront the peaceful intentions of those who rallied a crowd. Published treatises on civil disobedience theory almost always encourage practitioners to establish order within their ranks, but civil disobedience groups often face difficulty in controlling those they recruit. Dr. Martin Luther King, a renowned advocate of orderly demonstrations of group power, died after he returned to Memphis to restore order to demonstrations he had inspired but which had turned violent on his previous visit. An agent provocateur (plural: agents provocateurs) is a person assigned to provoke unrest, violence, debate, or argument by or within a group while acting as a member of the group but covertly representing the interests of another. ...

Limitations of mob influence

A scenario where mob pressure did not win can be seen in the incidents of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. While Beijing-based units of the People's Liberation Army initially refused to charge on the students occupying the square, new units from the countryside were brought in, who tended to perceive the students not as citizens like themselves, but as people deluded by a privileged position in Chinese society^{[citation needed]}. The Unknown Rebel - This famous photograph, taken by photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester whose actions halted a column of advancing tanks until he was pulled into the crowd. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: Běijīng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

Many of the more prominent student leaders who had attempted to establish a provisional civil order during their million-person-strong occupation of the square reportedly fled Beijing before the rural troops arrived, leaving Beijing residents to make their own decisions without the advice of student leaders^{[citation needed]}. Others fled the square after a face-to-face confrontation with soldiers, indicating remaining student leaders had not spread out among the mob in an attempt to bring an orderly conclusion to their demonstration. Some students of a more radical mindset joined outlying barricades that were defended with improvised weapons, and seized a key bridge leading into Beijing^{[citation needed]}. As soldiers fought their way through barricades and through a downtown area occupied by a now-leaderless throng, combat injuries and injuries from indirect gunfire in an urban setting resulted in deaths. The dead and injured included Beijing residents, PLA soldiers and students who had left the square to enforce barricades around the city.

As this example shows, relying on sheer mob strength and disruption is chancy in any political movement, and may not to be relied upon for any extended period. Encounters with mob rule usually hinge on threats of bodily harm - do what the mob wants, and you won't get hurt; resist, and you almost certainly will - the sheer size and psychological makeup of the mob makes it difficult or impossible to assign blame to any one person. The morality of the mob and its actions can be said to depend on what its demands are, what it's being influenced by, and what it's fighting against. While most people would find it objectionable for a mob to cause harm to ordinary citizens, the same cannot be said about a mob rising up to depose a tyrant; unfortunately these distinctions can be lost in the passions of the throng. The medical idea of (grievous) bodily harm is more specific than legal ideas of assault or violence in general, and distinct from property damage. ... To Blame is to hold another person or group responsible for perceived faults, be those faults real, imagined, or merely invented for perjorative purposes. ...

Other mobs

The term "mob" is also sometimes used to describe organized crime. Since it is relatively simple for the criminal element to exploit public strife, for example by looting, or grabbing power by means of fraud, there is some resonance in that "mob rule" can be described as having power held by those people who exploit or create mobs by leading them into violence. Organized crime is crime carried out systematically by formal criminal organizations. ... Looting (which derives via the Hindi lut from Sanskrit lunt, to rob), sacking, or plundering is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe or riot, such as during war [1], natural disaster [2], rioting [3], or terrorist attack...

In certain places with a dubious record of representative democracy, physical control of polling stations is a form of mob rule that determines who wins: whoever can bring out more supporters (typically with clubs and farm implements, although now usually knives and guns) to keep the opposing political party out, wins. Political privacy is very often nonexistent in this kind of condition, so retribution against defectors is easy. Representative democracy is a form of democracy founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the peoples representatives. ... A polling station situated inside a suburban library in the north of Cambridge during the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ... // Political scientists have developed concepts of different ideal types of political parties in order to better compare them with each other. ... Political privacy has been a concern since voting systems emerged in ancient times. ...

Some critics of the anti-globalization movement's protest against G8 and World Trade Organization and IMF meetings called them an attempt to impose mob rule, as such groups have managed at times to change part of the agenda, timing or location of such meetings, and forced leaders to address their concerns; out of proportion, some say, to the degree to which they are shared in the populace^{[citation needed]}. Anti-WEF grafiti in Lausanne. ... The Group of Eight (G8) consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. ... WTO redirects here. ... The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked. ...

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ochlocracy

• Bandwagon effect
• Collective consciousness
• Collective effervescence
• Collective hysteria
• Collective intelligence
• Crowd
• Crowd psychology
• Flash mob
• Group (sociology)
• Group behaviour
• Herd behaviour
• Herd instinct
• Herd morality (Friedrich Nietzsche)
• Keeping up with the Joneses
• Lynching
• Peer pressure
• Sheeple
• Smart mob
• Social comparison theory
• Spiral of silence
• Tribalism

Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The bandwagon effect is the observation that people often do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. ... The French social theorist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) used the term collective consciousness in his The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Suicide (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912). ... Collective Effervescence refers to the energy formed by a gathering of people as might be experienced at a sporting event, a carnival, or a riot. ... Collective hysteria, or mass hysteria, is the sociopsychological phenomenon of the manifestation of the same hysterical symptoms by more than one person. ... It has been suggested that symbiotic intelligence be merged into this article or section. ... A throng of people returning from a show of fireworks spill in to the street stopping traffic at the intersection of Fulton Street and Gold Street in Lower Manhattan. ... Ordinary people typically can gain direct power by acting collectively. ... A downtown Toronto pillow fight flash mob. ... In sociology, a group is usually defined as a collection of humans or animals, who share certain characteristics, interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. ... Group behaviour in sociology refers to the situations where large number of people in a given area behave simoultanesly in similar way and have a similar goal, but they individaully and without coordiantion. ... Herd behaviour is the term used to describe situations in which the individuals of any particular group react coherently. ... The herding instinct in humans may have some connection with group behaviours in other animals The so-called herding instinct is a social tendency in humans to identify with and model many behaviors and beliefs after a larger group of individuals with whom they identify. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a German philologist and philosopher. ... Look up keep up with the Joneses in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Lynch mob redirects here. ... Peer pressure comprises a set of group dynamics whereby a group in which one feels comfortable may override personal habits, individual moral inhibitions or idiosyncratic desires to impose a group norm of attitudes and/or behaviors. ... Sheeple is a term of disparagement, a portmanteau created by combining the words sheep and people; a reference to herd mentality. ... The Smart mob is a concept introduced by Howard Rheingold in his book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. ... Social comparison theory (Festinger 1954) is the idea that individuals learn about and assess themselves by comparison with other people. ... The spiral of silence is a political science and mass communication theory propounded by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Sources and references

• Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (under pseudonym Francis Stuart Campbell), The Menace of the Herd, The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1943. (Note where the term "ochlocracy" is used throughout the book.)
• Chana Shaffer, outline of presentation on ochlacracies for political science society in Touro College. Available on the Touro website www.touro.edu.)
• EtymologyOnLine