protected democracy

noun

An antisocialist government that allows suffrage but places sovereignty in the army.

Meanings

nounprotected democracy (countable and uncountable, plural protected democracies)

plural protected democracies

  1. countableeuphemisticuncountablegovernmentAn antisocialist government that allows suffrage but places sovereignty in the army.
    1 more example

    Pinochet, the Times reported, said he is “a lover of liberty, a right to which all men are born.” But he had no confidence “in orthodox democracy. It was too easy to infiltrate and destroy.” (He knew of what he spoke.) So he favored “a protected democracy” with a strong political role for the military. “He has managed to say in power,” the Times reported, “through what even his opponents recognize in political acumen…” (not terror, torture, and death squads.)

    1986, Michael Parenti, chapter 10, in Inventing Reality: The Politics of the Mass Media, New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 181

    Synonyms: authoritarian democracy, dictatorship of democracy, limited democracy

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn antisocialist government that allows suffrage but places sovereignty in the army.

Cite this entry
APA

protected democracy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protected%20democracy

MLA

“protected democracy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protected%20democracy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “protected democracy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protected%20democracy.

Source: protected democracy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.