petrostate

Etymology

From petro- + state.

petrostate means A state whose wealth stems from the sale of oil. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 93 out of 100.

Why this word is great

PETROSTATE — [Noun] A nation whose sovereignty is underwritten by subterranean geology, its national wealth and political power flowing predominantly from the extraction and export of oil or natural gas. From the combining form petro- (from Greek petra, "rock", used in reference to petroleum) + state (from Latin status, "condition, standing"). Unlike an "oil producer"—a neutral economic descriptor—or a "resource-rich state"—a broad category of mineral or agricultural wealth—a petrostate is defined by a profound, singular dependency. It is the glinting skyline of Dubai rising from the desert; the political calculus measured in barrels per day; the palpable, anxious hush in a Caracas marketplace when the global price per barrel drops. A polity built not on the industry of its people, but on the geological accident of its bedrock, forever waiting for the next boom and dreading the final bust.

noun

A state whose wealth stems from the sale of oil.“Under subsequent democratic regimes, as we shall see, some of these features of the petrostate were to change, while others were intensified.”