Word: dictatorship
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...Commonwealth" has nothing to do with sharing riches. The word took root in Renaissance Europe as an equivalent for the old Roman res publica, i.e., the public good or the common weal. Oliver Cromwell's dictatorship in England (1649-53), after the execution of King Charles I, was therefore dubbed "the Commonwealth." The U.S. colonies liked the self-governing implications of the word, and several states (e.g., the Commonwealths of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania) still bear the name. As early as 1852, British officials were employing commonwealth as a euphemistic name for empire. It has now grown to mean...
...proportional representation, which, while giving minorities a voice in the Dail, tends to keep alive old animosities that should have long since become ancient history. "Get rid of the intrigous P.R.!" cried a member of Dev's Fianna Fail (Party of Destiny). "De Valera and Fianna Fail want dictatorship!" retorted the opposition Fine Gael (United Ireland) Party. But it was hardly the sort of issue to stir the hearts of a people who 40 years ago fought the "oppressor" and have never got over...
...rebels had overestimated their own toughness and underestimated the Somoza boys' strength, which included a well trained and loyal army, reliable reservists, and the neutrality of the urban and rural masses. Most Nicaraguans apparently are not interested in overthrowing President Luis, who has been liberalizing the dictatorship he inherited from his assassinated father, tough old Anastasio ("Tacho") Somoza...
...show of bravado by Paraguayan students brought that country back under jackboot dictatorship...
...Paraguay's Congress, where in April he announced his "aim of perfecting a durable democratic regime." President Alfredo Stroessner, 46, sent a bristling order of dissolution. With that, Stroessner went back to the chancy business of running the last dictatorship on the continent of South America...