I love wikipedia -g-
Banana Republic is a pejorative term for a country that is
politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g.
bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and
corrupt clique. [1] It is most commonly used for countries in
Central America such as El Salvador, Belize, Grenada,
Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. In some cases, these
nations have kept the government structures that were modeled
after the colonial Spanish ruling clique, with a small,
largely leisure class on the top, and a large, poorly educated
and poorly paid working class of peons , though it might have
the (fake) trappings of modernity (such as styling itself a
republic with a president etc.)
Frequently the subject of mockery and humour, and usually
presided over by a dictatorial military junta that exaggerates
its own power and importance—"the epaulettes of a banana
republic generalissimo" are proverbially of considerable size,
usually portrayed in satire with a pair of mops— a banana
republic also typically has large wealth inequities, poor
infrastructure, poor schools, a "backward" economy, low
capital spending, a reliance on foreign capital and money
printing, budget deficits, and a weakening currency. Banana
republics are typically also highly prone to revolutions and
coups.
en.wikipedia.org |
