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Comment by gregorygoc | Hacker News Reader

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> In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic

What natural resource export is Spain’s economy dependent upon?

but also, ismt that a description of dutch disease?

a banana republic is a country where the US installs a brutal dictatorship on behalf of a banana company, and the punishment for not helping grow cheap bananas for rich americans is a slow, tortuous death

It appears it’s pork, which lands in China. Current corrupt government is fighting tooth and nail in order to not start a trade fight with China at EU level.

You do realize that when a term was coined many years ago its definition might be broadened?

I don't have any insight into what to call it right now, but I thought for several decades after WWII it was still fascist? If anything being a banana republic might not be as as bad as what it used to be

i knew it was a little while after WWII (college history was long, long ago!) but didn't realize it was ... 1975-1977!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_transition_to_democrac...

I did a whole Wikipedia deep dive on this several months ago. I vaguely remembered hearing how long it took for it to switch back, but the history around it is kind of fascinating; the son of the previous king was groomed to be the successor of Francisco Franco, and I guess he did a good enough job convincing him that he was ideologically in agreement so that the power was passed to him, which he then used to reinstate a republican form of government.

Hell, how can you be a banana republic when you're not even a republic?

(Sorry for the pun, I'll see myself out.)

> (Sorry for the pun, I'll see myself out.)

No worries, I can see the a-peel.

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