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

Rounding up 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.