Politicide

Politicide has three related but distinct meanings. It can mean a gradual but systematic attempt to cause the annihilation of an independent political and social entity, such as the destruction of the apartheid system in South Africa. Others have used the term to mean the deliberate physical destruction of a group who share the main characteristic of belonging to a political movement; this definition has been used because the systematic destruction of such groups are not covered as genocide under the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). CPPCG only covers the deliberate physical destruction of national, ethnic, racial and religious groups. A third use is noted by the Oxford English Dictionary is that which describes an action which irreparably damages a person's own political career (political suicide).