What is an oligarch?
Question
On the news, when people are talking about rich Russians, they refer to them as Russian Oligarchs. What actually is an oligarch?
Steve, Kingston
Answer
** Definitive **
Name: Ben, Balham
Qualification: Masters in Economics
Answer: The derivation of the word is similar to our monarch - a type of ruler. Oli in Greek means the few, so an oligarch is one of the few who rules. It's not strictly accurate, as they don't rule, but it's been in regular use.