Dermocracy

Dermocracy ( _ru. Дерьмокра́тия) - derogatory term used in Russophone blogosphere and by Russian political media.

The term is derived from a Russian word "dermo" ( _ru. Дерьмо), meaning feces. It is used exclusively in a negative context, usually to describe kleptocratic regime retaining some democratic institutions.

It is unclear who introduced the term. It appears in a written form in 1986 in a book by Vladimir Voinovich "Moscow 2042". Yuri Mukhin, a radical left politician and publicist, was one of the first to use it in his book published in 1993. Currently it is mostly used by authors who consider democratic reforms of 1990s under Yeltsin's regime "stealfest", when weener of democracy had been used to cover corruption and betrayal of what they consider "vital interests of Russia".

The term is formed by word play, as a pun. It is difficult to translate it in other languages. A direct translation in English is "shitocracy".

See also

*kleptocracy.
*liberast

Resources

Y. Mukhin, "Путешествие из демократии в дерьмократию и дорога обратно", М.: Гарт, 1993. ISBN 5-87213-001-5 (in Russian)