What Is Kakistocracy?

Every year in December, The Economist finds a “word of the year” that summarizes a major event or trend and has gained popularity in its wake.

It is useful to know that the magazine has been opposed to populism as it rose in the United States and elsewhere in the world but, I would say, not always in a consistent way. The real problem is not the right and the left, but the preference for collective choices over individual choices that characterizes both sides. (There have been some encouraging signs, however, that the prestigious magazine is evolving toward its 19th-century classical liberal roots.)

The Economist‘s word for 2024 is “kakistocracy,” the rule by the worst, from the ancient Greek kakistos (κάκιστος) for “the worst” and, of course, kratia (κρατία) for “rule” or “power.” Contrary to the case of, say, “aristocracy,” the derivative “kakistocrat” for those worst people who govern has not taken root, but we can hope it will. The 2024 word of the year would remain very relevant even if Ms. Harris had been elected in place of Mr. Trump. It is also relevant in many other countries.

In his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom, Fredrich Hayek, the future economics Nobel laureate, foresaw that as the state gains power, the worst people would become rulers, whether it be a single dictator adored by the majority or an omnipotent democratic majority. The regime would be supported by people with the lowest moral and intellectual standards and by the most gullible. They would embrace the principle that the end justifies the means and unite against scapegoats. People would lose any “respect for the individual qua man instead of merely as a member of an organized group.” Cynicism and disregard for truth would spread. Tribal emotions and government propaganda would displace rational arguments. Hayek would not have been surprised if foreigners, immigrants, and pet-eating Haitians were among the scapegoats.

Kakistocracy is etymologically a very pejorative term. Kakistos is the superlative of kakos (κακός), which means bad or evil. Cacophony, for example, means unpleasant sounds. The plural neutral of kakos is kaka (κακά) and means bad things. The French baby-talk word “caca,” meaning “pou-pou,” came from that Greek word or a Latin derivative. It has been part of the French language since the 16th century. I understand that, in American English (“****”) and in Spanish, the word has the same meaning.

From a political-economy viewpoint, which is what interests us here, kakistocracy is bad for everybody except the kakistocrats.

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Behind the scenes: I instructed DALL-E to create an image “representing three members of a democratic kakistocracy.” The bot refused, saying that this concept “didn’t align with our content policy.”  He would only agree to represent a democratic kakistocracy that would, as I told him, “makes your content policy illegal”! The second image below is one of the two he produced for that case. But the least bad image I finally obtained to illustrate this post was when I asked him for one “representing three members of a populist kakistocracy.” Changing “democratic” for “populist” also worked for his content policy! This is the first one just below. DALL-E explained, “Here is the generated image representing three members of a fictional populist kakistocracy.” AI bots are not Einsteins nor great social theorists.

“Three members of a fictional populist kakistocracy,” by DALL-E

DALL-E’s view of a democratic kakistocracy that would outlaw his “content policy”