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Webster 1913 Edition


Kakistocracy

Kakˊis-toc′ra-cy

(kăkˊĭs-tŏk′rȧ-sy̆)
,
Noun.
[Gr.
κάκιστοσ
worst +
κρατεῖν
to rule.]
Government by the worst men.

Definition 2024


kakistocracy

kakistocracy

English

Noun

kakistocracy (plural kakistocracies)

  1. Government under the control of a nation's worst or least-qualified citizens.
    • 1894, James Russell Lowell, Letters of James Russell Lowell - To Joel Benton [1876], p.159:
      Is ours a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," or a kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?
    • 1999, Gang Deng, The Premodern Chinese Economy: Structural Equilibrium and Capitalist Sterility:
      Thus, the problem was not whether corruption/power abuse was allowed, but how to keep a balance between uprightness and kakistocracy.
    • 2000, Tom H. Hastings, Ecology of War and Peace: Counting the Cost of Conflict:
      Some nation-states have suffered what the Greeks called kakistocracy—government by the worst of men. International law can, in theory if not always in practice, keep these kakistocracies from damaging too much.

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