corporatocracy

Meaning

1. 1nouncountable or uncountabledisapproving

   A system in which big companies, not the public or elected officials, hold the real power in politics and the economy.

   Grammar: Usually used without an article when describing a system: critics say the country is a corporatocracy.

   Patterns

   • a corporatocracy where something happens
   • live in a corporatocracy

   Some writers argue that the country has drifted into a corporatocracy.

   The author warns that a corporatocracy leaves ordinary voters with little say.

   Protesters accused the government of serving a corporatocracy instead of the people.

Word forms

Common combinations

a corporatocracy rather than a democracy

Critics fear it is becoming a corporatocracy rather than a democracy.

rule of the corporatocracy

The film shows the rule of the corporatocracy in a future city.

fight the corporatocracy

The campaign aims to fight the corporatocracy through public pressure.

global corporatocracy

He wrote a book about the global corporatocracy and trade.

corporatocracy and politics

Lobbying is cited as evidence of the link between corporatocracy and politics.

Synonyms and how they differ

plutocracy

Plutocracy means rule by the wealthy in general, while corporatocracy points specifically at companies.

oligarchy

Oligarchy is rule by a small group of any kind, not necessarily businesses.

corporatism

Corporatism is a political theory about organized interest groups sharing power, and is not necessarily negative like corporatocracy.

Opposites

Word family

corporation noun

a large company legally treated as a single body

corporate adjective

relating to a company or large business

corporatist adjective

relating to corporatism, a system of shared control by interest groups

Commonly confused: corporatocracy or corporatism?

Practice

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