ABSTRACT
While attempts have been made since the Second World War to compare and classify political systems on the basis of structures - the institutions and the groups which exist in the society - the more traditional way of undertaking these comparisons and classifications has been to refer to some general ‘characteristics’ of the polity. The characteristic which has been most widely used for this purpose is the distinction between democracies, oligarchies, and monarchies. This distinction was first suggested by Aristotle in his Politics; it has been adopted subsequently by large numbers of political theorists - indeed, to the extent of appearing to be for a long period the best means of comparing and classifying political systems.
