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My concern is certainly both philosophical and political ...I'm looking for interesting writings ( book, article, essay, etc .. ) about a theory on similarities between known forms of democracy and oligarchy ... I'm really curious if some of our predecessors used to focus on this topic ..
Sources similar to this: Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracy, which claims "The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite."
Check out "Manufacturing Consent" by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. The gist of it is that the media, and by extension anyone who can game or own the media, controls to some degree what issues the public pressures modern governments to address and which solutions to implement. So the people really in charge are not the voters nor the politicians, but whoever can control the media. This is a pretty small group, so I don't think it'd be much of a stretch to call it an oligarchy.
I don't recommend it on its merits, but Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is rife with precisely that sort of reasoning. As a history text it's of questionable value, but as a Socialist Philosophy treatise it's decently solid.
The book The dictator's handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alistair Smith argues that there is no fundamental difference between a democracy, oligarchy or a dictatorship. All forms of government require a certain percentage of support within the population. In a democracy this percentage is larger, in an oligarchy or a dictatorship this percentage is smaller.
Zhang Weiwei (2012), The China Wave: Rise of a Civilizational State, World Century Publishing Corporation.
You can also watch: Is democracy wrong for China?
It's all very well documented and codified into law here... 2017 Trump Republican Tax Act. Cuts taxes for wealthy people and corporations. Removes most tax credits and deductions for working people. Most Americans would have benefitted from the Home-Office Tax Deduction in 2020 that was removed under this law.
US Department of Justice and here U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Enforces and protects the oligarchy.
The results are documented here Tax Records for 25 Wealthiest People in the United States Most working Americans, who get a paycheck for their labor, have paid more in taxes than the billionaires.
