militocracy

plural militocracies

1. countableuncountableThe government of the armed forces.

   Germany under Wilhelm II and Poland under Pilsudski exemplify a variant of militocracy where political preponderance and economic favours were restricted to the officer corps.

   1968, Stanislav Andreski, “Postscript to the second edition”, in Military Organization and Society, 2nd edition, University of California Press, page 185

   1 more example

   Early states were usually governed by militocracies, whose main source of social power was simply force. This was a consequence of one of the most important principles of social evolution, namely that “war made the state, and states made war.”

   2023, Peter Turchin, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration, Penguin, →ISBN

   Synonyms: stratocracy