narcokleptocracy

narcokleptocracy

English

WOTD – 3 January 2017

A mugshot of Manuel Noriega (born 1934), the former military dictator of Panama, by the United States Marshals Service in Miami, Florida, after he surrendered to the US military on January 3, 1990. A December 1988 report by a subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations described the Noriega regime as a narcokleptocracy.

Etymology

narco- (“of or pertaining to narcotics or their trade and use”) +‎ kleptocracy (“corrupt and dishonest government characterised by greed”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːkəʊklɛpˈtɒkɹəsi/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑɹkoʊˌklɛpˈtɑkɹəsi/
• Hyphenation: nar‧co‧klep‧to‧cra‧cy

Noun

narcokleptocracy (plural narcokleptocracies)

1. (rare) Drug lords and others involved in organized crime as a dominant group in society; the influence or rule exerted by this group. [from 20th c.]
2. (rare) A government influenced by such persons; a narcocracy. [from 20th c.]
   • 1988 December, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, “Panama”, in Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy: A Report (S. Prt.; 100-165)‎, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1989, OCLC 19806126, archived from the original on 7 October 2016, page 83:

     As head of the PDF [Panamanian Defense Forces], [Manuel] Noriega now controlled all elements of the Panamanian government essential to the protection of drug trafficking and money laundering, thus accomplishing two goals simultaneously—increasing his control over Panama and enriching himself. Noriega had turned Panama's political system into what one witness termed a "narcokleptocracy," a political system in which Panamanian government became controlled by personal loyalties to Noriega, cemented by graft and corruption, and substantially funded with narcotics money.

   • 2000, Shelby Tucker, Among Insurgents: Walking through Burma, London; New York, N.Y.: The Radcliffe Press, →ISBN, page 80:

     I knew how eager they [new recruits to the All Burma Students' Democratic Front] were to fight the Burma Army, which they perceived as no better than a private army protecting Ne Win's narcokleptocracy.

See also

• narcostate