[Ads-l] Word: "poligarch" combines “political” and “oligarchy”

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The word "poligarch" appears in a recent article about Russia and the
Paradise Papers in "The New Yorker".

Online Periodical: The New Yorker
Article: The Poligarchs, Oligarchs, and Stooges of the Paradise Papers
Author:  Masha Gessen
Date: November 6, 2017

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-poligarchs-oligarchs-and-stooges-of-the-paradise-papers

[Begin excerpt]
The Hungarian sociologist Bálint Magyar has a name for it: a mafia
state. Magyar--who studied the Soviet Union as an academic in
Communist Hungary, served in the Hungarian government, and returned to
academia after the populist takeover of his country--argues that the
mafia state is a new kind of regime, distinct from autocracies
previously known to man. By Magyar’s definition, the mafia state is
run by a clan--a political family--that consists of poligarchs,
oligarchs, and stooges.

The topmost poligarch is the patriarch, the mafia boss.
. . .

The word “poligarch” combines “political” and “oligarchy”; the
poligarchs are first endowed with political power, which they use to
procure material wealth.
[End excerpt]

Garson

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