专 "sole/exclusive" +
政 "governance." In PRC political vocabulary,
专政 is most often paired with
无产阶级 to give
无产阶级专政, the Marxist-Leninist "dictatorship of the proletariat," written into early constitutions and still cited in official documents. In contemporary Chinese press the word can also describe foreign authoritarian regimes (
军事专政 military dictatorship).
