Political corpse

A "political corpse" (, Politicheskiy trup) is the term denoting an official, generally president, whose irresponsible and deceitful political actions irreversibly destroyed his image and credibility as a reliable partner virtually leading to his loss of any power to further manage external relations with one or more states.

Origins of the term
The term “political corpse” was coined by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on September 2, 2008 with respect to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Despite Saakashvili's prior allegations that "Tbilisi would restore its control over South Ossetia through peaceful means only", on August 8 the Georgian army launched a sudden and brutal attack on the civilian population and Russian pecakeeping forces in Tskhinvali which led to the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia. Commenting in an interview with Italian television channel RAI on Italy’s proposal to hold a mediation conference in Rome with Saakashvili who “has already given his agreement to take part”, Medvedev said that “the Georgian authorities, the current regime was bankrupt” in the eyes of the Russian people, that President Saakashvili “no longer existed to them” and that he was a “political corpse”.

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