petro-dictatorship

noun

A dictatorship funded by petroleum exports.

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Meanings

nounpetro-dictatorship (plural petro-dictatorships)

plural petro-dictatorships

  1. A dictatorship funded by petroleum exports.

    The development of energy resources in an otherwise underdeveloped economy […] is often accompanied by the rise of corrupt, authoritarian regimes (Witness the petro-dictatorships of Nigeria, Libya[…])

    1997, Peter Rutland, Lost Opportunities: Energy and Politics in Russia
    1 more example

    Internationally, what is already the world's most indebted nation is overextended on the military front, highly dependent on OPEC oil and increasingly beholden to sovereign wealth funds run by petro-dictatorships or authoritarian regimes

    2009, Thomas J. Courchene, The Obama Opportunity: Agent of Change in a Time of Crisis

Origin

From petro- + dictatorship.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

petro-dictatorship. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petro-dictatorship

MLA

“petro-dictatorship.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petro-dictatorship. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “petro-dictatorship,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petro-dictatorship.

Source: petro-dictatorship on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.