power vacuums

Noun

power vacuum (plural power vacuums or power vacua)

1. A lack of centralised political authority, especially following a conflict, revolution, change of power, etc.
   • Fourth, knowing what I did of the policies and actions of Moscow and Peking, I was as sure as a man could be that if we did not live up to our commitment in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, they would move to exploit the disarray in the United States and in the alliances of the Free World. They might...1971, Lyndon Johnson, “Challenge and Response: Vietnam 1964—1965”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 152