An astronautocracy or a cosmonautocracy (Russian: космонавтократия, kosmonavtokratiya) is a form of government in which absolute power is vested among a group of astronauts. The term was coined in the late 1990s to describe the unique governmental structure which had been under development across planet Venus since the 1980s. Under an astronautocratic government, the day-to-day decision making is held among the first settlers on the planet (usually astronauts), with average citizens having little to no say within this process. Many have compared this form of government as a combination of an aristocracy and a technocracy.