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partitocrazia

partyocracy, party-dominated political system

noun par-tee-toh-KRAH-tsyah Rare

Origin: From partito (political party) + Greek -crazia (rule), coined in Italian political discourse.

Usage Note

Partitocrazia is a specifically Italian political term, coined in the postwar period to describe a system in which political parties — rather than institutions or individuals — hold excessive and unaccountable power. It was a central concept of Italian political debate from the 1950s through the 1990s (Tangentopoli era). It is an invariable noun in the plural: le partitocrazie.

Examples

"La partitocrazia bloccava ogni vera riforma."

Natural Translation

Party rule was blocking any real reform.

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