the.com/autocracy
One person's bad mood, scaled up to a national emergency with no off switch.
means A system of government in which one person holds absolute, unchecked power over everyone else.
from From Greek autokrateia, joining autos 'self' with kratos 'power, rule' — literally 'self-rule,' though the irony is that it means rule by one self over everybody else's. The same kratos powers democracy ('people-power'), aristocracy ('rule by the best'), and a whole family of -cracy words; autos shows up again in autonomy, automobile, and autobiography. English borrowed it in the 17th century to name precisely this concentration of authority in a single hand.
- word roots
- Greek for self-rule, ruling answerable only to yourself
- fatal flaw
- No legal way to remove a bad one
- succession chaos
- Often collapses the moment the strongman dies
- yes-men problem
- Leaders get worse intel as fear grows
- modern disguise
- Many hold elections they have already rigged
putin's russia — vladimir putin has consolidated power since 2000, controlling elections and suppressing opposition
xi jinping's china — xi consolidated control as general secretary since 2012, eliminated term limits in 2018
erdogan's turkey — recep tayyip erdogan shifted from democracy to executive presidency in 2017 with expanded powers