Plato's Five Stages of Government

Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He wrote a book entitled The Republic in which he explains  his philosophy on subjects ranging from education to government. Plato constructed a model by which he proposed all governments evolve. He called it the Five Stages of Government.'The Republic' of Plato establishes a solid formation of the five types of government discovered by Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimentus. In 'The Republic' there is detailed discussion of five different kinds of government (and, by analogy, five different kinds of person), ranked in order from best to worst:The five types begin with aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and then ending with tyranny-anarchy. 

Aristocracy

In this form of government, the head of state is a king who is also a philosopher, a wise and just man who has a balanced soul and an experienced world view. This philosopher-king does not rule alone, but has three classes or categories of people below him, the ones that make up the remainder of his aristocratic state. The king is supported by the auxiliary class or the soldier class of people whose job it is to enforce law and order, and protect the state from military aggressors. The third class of people are the worker class, who have the right to produce goods and services and trade in them, own property and have the rights of citizens.

According to Plato, the aristocratic system of government is the highest form that man can attain as individuals living in a collective environment. Plato outlines the philosopher-king as a man who has been given the best education, his wisdom is tempered by worldly experience and he has a soul of gold, he rules by the virtue of his merit and ability and because he has transcended the bonds of petty politics. The second class of auxiliaries, or soldiers are also men of high learning and have souls of silver, while the working class have souls of iron, they work hard to provide for themselves and the nation. Plato is of the opinion that such aristocratic system works as a benevolent government, seeking out the traits of these different classes of people, and educating and training them in a way which is suitable for their future positions in life.

An aristocratic person is one whose rational, spirited, and appetitive souls work together properly. Such governments and people are the most genuine examples of true justice at the social and personal levels.

Timocracy

The second form of government described by Plato is the timocratic form, this is a notch below the high idealistic form of aristocracy and comes into existence chiefly due to the failure of the government to develop individuals who have souls of gold. This degeneration gives rise to a leader who has the ideals of an aristocrat but is also aware of the nature of power he has inherited. Plato theorizes that the Timocratic man is the son of the aristocratic philosopher king, having the education and learning of his father, but wanting to expand his power by way of war and conquest. It is a form of government in which ambition for honor, power and military glory motivates the rulers.

The ruling class and its auxiliaries in a timocracy are men of inferior nature, because they hold the values of honor and victory to be greater than the philosophical truths that govern life. The timocratic man will lead his armies in battle and conquer foreign lands, bringing back spoils of war to enrich his own empire. However, he is not by nature barbaric and respects his elders, the citizens of his country and takes measures to better their lives in whatever way he can.

A timocratic person is therefore someone who is more concerned with belligerently defending personal honor than with wisely choosing what is truly best.

Oligarchy

The oligarchic form of government is a further degeneration of the timocratic form. Here society is divided into two distinct classes, the rich and the poor. The rich have the reigns of administration in their hands and the poor are the ruled class. Although the aristocratic form of government as described by Plato expressly forbids the king from owning property (his needs are satisfied by the voluntary contributions of his people) the kings in a timocracy and oligarchy are allowed to do so. They accumulate wealth and spend it, often in excess, leading to a dependence on monetary policy and increase in the demand of wealth in the general population. The laws are therefore changed to enable only the ruling class to hold great wealth, thereby guaranteeing their supremacy over the worker class. This is how a timocracy turns into an oligarchy, where riches are concentrated in the hands of a few.

The rich men will consolidate power and wealth leaving the poor desperate for social emancipation, causing them to rebel against the oligarchs.
Also, the threat from foreign aggressors may be greater, as the governing class, due to their far lesser numbers will be unable to amass a huge army, they will be reluctant to arm the oppressed working class too, fearing a revolt.

By analogy, an oligarchic personality is someone whose every thought and action is devoted to the self-indulgent goal of amassing greater wealth.

Democracy

Plato relegates the democratic form of government near the bottom of his list. This is the further degeneration of oligarchy as the working class, pushed to the brink of poverty rebel against the oligarchs and establish a government based solely on the principle of freedom. Freedom is the only good worth having in a democracy and people do what they want, even breaking the law if they have the opportunity. According to Plato, this is akin to anarchy, where there are little if any laws governing men. The democratic man is therefore a free spirit, spending as he wills, running after his desires, and having no set goal or focus in life.

The parallel case of a democratic person is someone who is utterly controlled by desires, acknowledging no bounds of taste or virtue in the perpetual effort to achieve the momentary satisfaction that pleasure provides.

Tyranny

The last and the worst form of government is the tyrannical form, where all power is with one man, a leader who rises from the chaos of democracy, thirsting for power but not having the wisdom or learning to use it wisely. He will merely take advantage of the lawlessness to seize power and rule with an iron fist, often unjustly, and the populace will fear and loathe him but remain helpless. The tyrant will spend his time wasting the vast volume of his ill-gotten wealth, living under constant threat of assassination or rebellion.

A tyrranic person, then, must be one whose entire life is focussed upon the satisfaction of a single desire at the expense of everything else that truly matters. Governments and people of this last variety are most perfectly unjust, even though they may appear to be well-organized and effective.