This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
nomophobia
partocracy

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(par-TOK-ruh-see)

MEANING:

noun: Government or rule by a single political party.

ETYMOLOGY:

From party, from Old French partie, from Latin partire (to divide, share) + Greek -cracy (rule). Probably modeled after Russian partokratija. Earliest documented use: 1966.

NOTES:

A partocracy is what happens when a country’s government turns into a single-party party and everyone else is uninvited. In theory, democracy gives every citizen a voice; in a partocracy, it’s the ruling party that does all the talking (and rarely listens).

USAGE:

“Our Constitution clearly requires each of our MLAs to represent ‘the electoral district for which the member was elected,’ since we are, by law, a democracy, not a partocracy ... Having more than one political party is essential for democracy to exist.”
Lehel J. Porpaczy; MLAs Represent Everyone in District; Times-Colonist (Victoria, Canada); Jun 8, 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: