Word of the Week

psephocracy, n.
[‘ The form of government which results from the election of representatives by ballot; the system of government by elected representatives.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /sᵻˈfɒkrəsi/, /siːˈfɒkrəsi/, /sɛˈfɒkrəsi/, U.S. /siˈfɑkrəsi/
Etymology: < psepho- comb. form + -cracy comb. form, after democracy n. Compare psephocrat n.
The form of government which results from the election of representatives by ballot; the system of government by elected representatives.1966 New Statesman 15 Apr. 531/1 How then did Britain..become a democracy?.. It never did… What we do have is representative government, or the rule of the ballot-box, or (in one word) psephocracy.
1970 Sci. Jrnl. Feb. 27/1 The present system [of government] is more of a leadership than a referred system—the so called ‘psephocracy’.
1994 Mod. Law Rev. 57 226 The people are not the government; what they do is elect it; and so the pedant would say we have in this country not democracy, but psephocracy.