Ochlocracy

[Stargzer]

I ran across this wonderful word in an interesting Wikipedia article this evening, following a link in the Alexander Hamilton article I was reading.

Ochlocracy (Greek: οχλοκρατία or okhlokratía; 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. As a pejorative for majoritarianism, it's akin to the Latin phrase mobile vulgus meaning "the easily moveable crowd," from which the term "mob" originally derives.

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.

Terminology
The term appears to have been coined by Polybius in his Histories (6.4.6). 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"

In ancient Greek political thought ochlocracy was considered as one of the three "bad" forms of government (tyranny, oligarchy and ochlocracy) as opposed to the three "good" forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy and democracy). The distinction between "good" and "bad" was made according to whether the government form would act in the interest of the whole community ("good") or special interests ("bad"). ...

Wiktionary has the IPA pronunciations for UK (/ɒkˈlɒkɹəsi/) and US (/ɑkˈlɑkɻəsi/) English. To tell the truth, I can hear some difference between the two different "r" sound samples for Alveolar Approximant (ɹ) and Retroflex Approximant (ɻ), but trying to position the tongue from the descriptions given in the articles leaves me, well, a bit tongue-tied. To me, the Alveolar sounds a bit deeper in the throat and longer, the Retroflex a bit higher and shorter. Your mileage may vary. (You might need to load a .ogg codec; see instructions on Wikipedia.)

[Slava]

It is often associated with demagoguery and the rule of passion over reason.

See the break up of Yugoslavia and the genocide of Rwanda. Excellent examples of this kind of leadership in action.

[Stargzer]

It is often associated with demagoguery and the rule of passion over reason.

See the break up of Yugoslavia and the genocide of Rwanda. Excellent examples of this kind of leadership in action.

Kind of like the Far Left and the Far Right in the United States.

[Slava]

I think, and hope, that the Far Left and Far Right here in the US are sufficiently far from the Center that neither can really control the mobile vulgus. That would get scary.

[Stargzer]

Well, look who now has a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate ... including that so-called comedian that Minnesota sent to the Senate. What were they thinking?

[Slava]

Well, that's just the Left, not the Far. And with people jumping parties left and right (pun coincidental), do they really have a "filibuster-proof" majority anyway? Just how is Spektr, er, Spector going to bend? With the wind?

[Stargzer]

A Spectre is haunting Pennsylvania ... the Spector of Arlen.

Many on the Far Right have felt he was on the left to begin with. As for me, I'm a hard-core Moderate.