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Aristotle cautioned against too narrow a definition of oligarchy. It would be misleading to identify as oligarchic every political crisis for which a democratic solution is available. As Aristotle inferred, oligarchies are essentially undemocratic, but they are not innately anti-democratic. Moreover, oligarchic crises are systemic in nature and related to regimes rather than specific governments. The war was not in itself an oligarchic crisis, but it was one of a polity in which, as Aristotle allowed, oligarchic and democratic elements co-mingled in tension. The chameleon and promethean qualities of oligarchies pose a constant challenge to the practice and study of democracy. Despite the internationalisation of world politics and the proliferation of global institutions — many themselves of quite oligarchic constitution and disposition, as in the European Commission — there is little sign of a lessened variegation of oligarchies and so of the crises which they create for themselves or are driven into.