militariat

M3I1L1I1T1A1R1I1A1T1

noun

A ruling class resulting from a coup by junior officers and non-officers from the military.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

militariat1

nounmilitariat (plural militariats)

plural militariats

  1. A ruling class resulting from a coup by junior officers and non-officers from the military.

    Irregulars of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) shared both the subaltern class location and lumpen culture of the militariat in Sierra Leone.

    2004, J. Kandeh, Coups from Below: Armed Subalterns and State Power in West Africa, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    It is noted that some military coups, especially in West Africa, have been carried out, not by senior officers, but by junior & noncommissioned officers, ie, the militariat, which occupies a class position in the army analogous to the working class in society.

    1998, Leo P. Chall, Sociological Abstracts - Volume 46, Issue 6, page 3825

    The militariat generally lack a "social consciousness" (Kandeh 2004, 3), aw well as the intellectual skills, organizational expertise, and military discipline necessary for governance.

    2010, John Conteh-Morgan, New Francophone African and Caribbean Theatres, →ISBN, page 116

militariat2

nounmilitariat (plural militariats)

plural militariats

  1. A ruling class formed by an alliance between military officers and bureaucrats.

    The employers and the landlords were upheld in their exploitation of the masses by militariats, who, as masters of their politically and militarily separate territories, moreover, taxed the people outrageously and allowed their soldiers to live upon them and ravage them practically at will.

    1930, Henry Francis James, Thorsten D. Sellin, China, page 232
    2 more examples

    In Nigeria, this failure is expressed by the coming into position of dominance of the militariat, that is the alliance of top military officers and bureaucrats, local and foreign capital (private sector) and traditional rulers that has been dominant in Nigerian politics, especially from the mid-1980s.

    2001, Nigerian Journal of International Affairs - Volumes 25-27, page 56

    We should emphasise that the militariat enlists both military and civilians members. It is important to point this out in order to avert the illusion that links militarism in Nigeria exclusively to the direct occupation of the state by the military. Surely, the project of the militariat does not necessarily need to be realized through military rule.

    2004, Democracy and Development

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

militariat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/militariat

MLA

“militariat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/militariat. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “militariat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/militariat.

Source: militariat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.