In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Guatemala and Honduras under economic exploitation by U.S. corporations, such as the United Fruit Company. Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites. The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by way of exploitation of labour. Therefore, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.

केला गणतंत्र, जिसे अंग्रज़ी में मूल रूप से बनाना रिपब्लिक कहा जाता है, राजनैतिक रूप से अस्थिर देश होता है जिसकी अर्थव्यवस्था किसी ऐसे विशेष कृषि, खनिज या अन्य उत्पादन के निर्यात पर निर्भर हो जिसकी विश्व में भारी माँग है।