What is Hierarchy?
[[File:Maslow's hierarchy of needs.png|thumb|right|200px|Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. This is an example of a hierarchy visualised with a triangle diagram.]] A '''hierarchy''' (in {{lang-el|Ιεραρχία}}; this comes from ''{{lang|el|ιερός}}''-hieros, sacred, and ''{{lang|el|άρχω}}''-arkho, rule) is a way of ranking and organizing [[wikt:thing|things]] or [[wikt:people|people]]. Beneath the top of the hierarchy, each part of it is below some other part. This turns out to be like a [[pyramid]]. It is a system to decide who can make decisions, and who is forced to comply with those decisions. An example with people would be the [[structure]] of a [[company]]. There is the top [[manager]], and there are a few levels of middle and lower management. At the bottom are the common [[worker]]s. Another example would be an [[army]] that might have a [[General officer|general]], followed by [[colonel]]s, [[corporal]]s, and [[sergeant]]s, then [[Private (rank)|privates]]. In [[democracy]] this is done by educating people in the [[Issue (debate)|issues]] and then [[vote|voting]] - in an [[election]] to choose [[leader]]s, or a [[referendum]] to actually choose one option from several. Competing [[power network]]s each form a [[political party]] and each offers only one leader or one option to the public, to simplify the issues to make decisions possible. After the decision, they typically do not fight it to the point of [[civil war]], but wait for the next election. In [[dictator]]ship this is done by asking one powerful person to make the decision and then agreeing to force everyone to follow it. Any who will not are [[exile]]d, im[[prison]]ed, or [[kill]]ed, even if the decision is not very important, since the refusal to follow is taken as a challenge to the power structure itself. There is only one [[power network]] and all others are forced to become part of it, or fight it. Civil war is much more common in a dictatorship than in a democracy. In these examples, people who are higher up have more [[authority]] and [