Kakistocracy

Kakistocracy (pronounced kak-uh-stok-ruh-see)

Government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.

1644: From the Ancient Greek κάκιστος (kákistos (worst)), superlative of κακός (kakós (bad) +‎ κρατία (kratía (power, rule, government).  The word may have long existed in casual use but the earliest known use dates from 1644 in Paul Gosnold's A sermon Preached at the Publique Fast which included the fragment:  "... transforming our old Hierarchy into a new Presbytery, and this againe into a newer Independency; and our well-temperd Monarchy into a mad kinde of Kakistocracy. Good Lord!".  Re-coined, it appeared in the 1829 novella The Misfortunes of Elphin by English author Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866).  The word spread, presumably because Spanish is kakistocracia, French kakistocratie, German Kakistokratie, and Russian kakistokratiya (какистократия).  The almost never used alternative spelling is cacistocracy.  Kakistocracy & kakistocrat are nouns and kakistocratical is an adjective; the noun plural is kakistocracies.

The possibility of a Lindsayocracy: In 2017 Lindsay Lohan posted on Instagram the possibility of running for President of the United States (POTUS) in 2020.  Among political scientists, there was no consensus about whether a Lindsayocracy would be (1) better, (2) worse or (3) pretty much the same as a Crookedhillaryocracy.  Her announcement was noted by the state-owned Russian News Agency Sputnik News but there was no comment from the Kremlin.  

Despite a history of governments of varying quality, usage outside of political science circles was rare until a 1980s spike associated with attacks on Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, US president 1981-1989) and Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013; UK prime-minister 1979-1990).  Later, perhaps surprisingly, George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009) appears not to have induced a twentieth-first century revival; that had to wait.  One Fox News commentator liked applying kakistocracy to the administration of Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) although the rest of the crew seemed better to understand Fox’s audience should be spoken to with short, simple, repetitive words and phrases and it was Donald Trump's (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) election which brought the word a new popularity.

Variations on the Greek theme

Albocracy: government by white men or Europeans

Androcracy: the rule of man, male supremacy

Anemocracy: government by the wind

Angelocracy: government by angels

Argentocracy: the rule or paramount influence of money

Aristocracy: rule by the highest class

Barbarocracy: government or rule by barbarians

Bestiocracy: the rule of beasts

Chrysocracy: rule of the wealthy

Corporatocracy: rule or undue influence by commercial interests

Dulocracy: government by slaves

Ergatocracy: government by the workers

Gerontocracy: the system of government by old men

Graocracy: government by an old woman or old women

Gynaecrocracy (or gynocracy): government by a woman or women

Hagiocracy: government by persons esteemed holy

Hetaerocracy: (1) rule of college fellows or (2) rule of courtesans

Kakistocracy: the government of a state by the worst citizens

Khakistocracy: rule or undue influence by the military

Kleptocracy: government by thieves

Masonocracy: Government unduly influenced by the Freemasons

Mogocracy: a system of government in which words are the ruling powers

Mediocracy: government by the mediocre

Meritocracy: Government by the most able

Mesocracy: government by the middle classes

Ochlocracy: government by the populace, mob rule

Papyrocracy: government by excessive paperwork

Pedantocracy: the rule of pedants

Pornocracy: rule by prostitutes

Ptochocracy: a government elected by or consisting of the poor

Strumpetocracy: government by strumpets

The recent suspects.

In politics, the term kakistocracy has become, like "fascist", one of those words used to convey a general disapproval of administrations rather than anything too specific.  Still, given the standard of some of the governments seen in recent decades, there may be a case to consider it as a literal descriptor and whether there was any better word to use of the brief, troubled administration of Liz Truss (b 1975; UK prime-minister Sep-Oct 2022) remains at least debatable.  However, one curious consequence of recent advances in technology might mean Joe Biden's (b 1942; US president since 2021) administration attracts the label less than might be expected.  The "deep fakes" had been around for a while but with artificial intelligence (AI) systems now able to generate convincing audio-visual content, such has been the proliferation of clips purporting to demonstrate the president's senility that people now seem to give him the benefit of the doubt because it's difficult to tell the difference between the fake news produced by AI and actual footage of examples of his cognitive decline.