Absurdistan

Absurdistan is a term sometimes used to satirically describe a country in which absurdity is the norm due to the ubiquity and incompetence of its bureaucracy.

The expression was originally used by Eastern bloc dissidents to refer to parts (or all) of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, but has remained common in post-communist discourse as well.

The first recorded printed use of the term in English was in Spectator in an article on August 26, 1989, about Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovaks have taken to calling their country "Absurdistan" because everyday life there has long resembled the "Theatre of the Absurd".)

On September 18, 1989, an article in The Nation was called Prague Summer of '89: Journey to Absurdistan.

On August 30, 1990, The New York Times used it in an article about the Soviet Union,[3] and a January 18, 1990, Village Voice interview with Havel by Bonnie Sue Stein and Vit Horejs was headlined "The New King of Absurdistan".