democratic centralism

noun

1. the Leninist principle that policy should be decided centrally by officials, who are nominally democratically elected

Example Sentences

By then, Mr. Xi had already defied optimistic expectations, Chinese and American, by acting on his deep-seated belief that political and economic openness had undone the Soviet Union and would also destroy Chinese Communism unless the party doubled down on what Lenin called “democratic centralism.”

From Washington Post

The decision that elevated him to “core” also emphasized “democratic centralism” — giving all senior officials a say — and said they should come from the “five lakes and four seas,” meaning from varied backgrounds.

From New York Times

Other campaigns have been more ideological: the “Eight Musts” of 2012 stressed the importance of the party’s monopoly of power as well as of “reform and opening”; a campaign was launched in February requiring officials to bone up on Mao’s essay, “Working Methods of Party Committees”, and “improve their consciousness of democratic centralism”.

From Economist

Vietnam follows the classic communist doctrine of democratic centralism, whereby the party is the only permitted political player.

From BBC

"This is a big step backwards and a reassertion of the Leninist principle of 'democratic centralism' … which is 100% centralism and 0% democratic."

From Los Angeles Times