mandarinate

From French mandarinat, corresponding to mandarin +‎ -ate.

mandarinate (plural mandarinates)

1. (obsolete) The status of holding a position as a mandarin. [18th–19th c.]
2. The collective body of mandarins. [from 19th c.]
   • 1901, Edward Alsworth Ross, Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order‎, page 88:

     As higher education, claiming more and more years of one’s life, widens the space between those who possess it and those who do not, and as the enlightenment of the public wanes relatively to the superior enlightenment of the learned castes and professions, the mandarinate will infallibly draw to itself a greater and greater share of social power.

   • 2016, Christopher Goscha, The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam, Penguin, published 2017, page 101:

     He criticized the monarchy and the mandarinate for failing to save the country and to help the people in their hour of greatest need.

3. A political form of rule by mandarins.
4. (figuratively) A type of government marked by excessive bureaucracy and Byzantine regulations.
   • 2011, Ian Buruma, Europe without Turkey‎:

     Far from being a model of democracy, the EU is associated with an arrogant, out-of-touch mandarinate that issues rules and edicts with paternalistic and highhanded disregard for ordinary citizens.