Kleptocrat

[Fred Shapiro]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, Paul McFedries wrote:

> I've heard "kleptocrat" used recently in reference to Laurent Kabila. The
> OED has "kleptocracy" ("a ruling body or order of thieves"), which it dates
> to 1819. However, it doesn't have "kleptocrat." Nexis.com reports that its
> earliest citation is an abstract of a Wall Street Journal article from 1986,
> which is surprisingly new considering the antiquity of kleptocracy. Does
> anyone know of any earlier cites for "kleptocrat"?

1975 _Transition_ (no. 47) 59 In the case of western Nigeria, there is
also good evidence that the deterioration of political conditions in that
state after 1963, and later, elsewhere in the Federation, was in no small
part abetted by the activities of what Stanislas Andreski has aptly called
"kleptocrats," that is, thieves in public office.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------