What does banana republic mean?

Definitions for banana republic
ba·nana re·pub·lic

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word banana republic.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. banana republicnoun

    a small country (especially in Central America) that is politically unstable and whose economy is dominated by foreign companies and depends on one export (such as bananas)

Wiktionary

  1. banana republicnoun

    A small country, especially one in Central America, that is dependent on a single export commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has a corrupt, dictatorial government.

  2. Etymology: Coined by American author O. Henry in his 1904 book of short stories, "Cabbages and Kings", set in the fictional "Anchuria", which was based on his 1896-97 stay in Honduras.

Wikipedia

  1. Banana republic

    In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighbouring countries under economic exploitation by U.S. corporations, such as the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Brands International). Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites. The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by way of the exploitation of labor; thus, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, whereby the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class. Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury. Such an imbalanced economy remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country and usually reduces the national currency into devalued banknotes (paper money), rendering the country ineligible for international development credit.

ChatGPT

  1. banana republic

    A banana republic is a term typically used to describe a small, tropical, politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on exporting a single limited-resource product, such as bananas, to a developed country. It originated from the history of certain Latin American countries that were dominated by foreign business interests such as the United Fruit Company, leading to economic and political instability. Today, it's also used pejoratively to indicate a country with high levels of corruption and a socio-political system controlled by an exclusive elite class.

Wikidata

  1. Banana republic

    Banana republic is a political science term for a politically unstable country whose economy is largely dependent on the export of a single limited-resource product, such as bananas. It typically has stratified social classes, including a large, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy that comprises the elites of business, politics, and the military. This politico-economic oligarchy controls the primary-sector productions and thereby exploits the country's economy.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of banana republic in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of banana republic in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of banana republic in a Sentence

  1. Ken Cuccinelli:

    This is a banana republic approach from the Trump team, ... They have a media campaign. But Ted Cruz has built a grassroots campaign ...

  2. Chris Murphy:

    This is an extraordinary moment. We're seeing our country turn into a banana republic. Republicans better be careful what they wish for because a Democratic president could use the same tools President Donald Trump is to turn the White House into one big extension of his reelection campaign, if that's the direction they take, attacking the whistleblower, trying to coverup this corruption, it's a really, really said day for the country.

  3. Jason Chaffetz:

    That’s the way a banana republic acts, not the way the United States of America acts, i don’t expect to have to issue a subpoena to see unclassified information.

  4. Gleisi Hoffmann:

    We consider this to be a political imprisonment, an imprisonment that will expose Brazil before the world, we will become a banana republic.


Translations for banana republic

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"banana republic." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/banana+republic>.

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