In order to know the meaning of the term debacle it is necessary, first of all, to proceed to discover its etymological origin. In this case we can state that it derives from the French “débacle”, which can be translated as “disaster” and which is the result of the sum of two well-differentiated parts:
-The prefix “de-“, which is used to indicate denial.
-The verb “bacler”, which means “close the door with a piece of wood“.
That French word, in turn, cannot fail to point out that it comes from the vulgar Latin “bacculare”.
The concept is used in reference to a landslide, a calamity, a disaster or a hecatombe.
For example: “The country debacle began with the coup that overthrew the constitutional president”, “The head of the team debacle is the coach”, “I am very concerned about the economic debacle of the company”.
The idea is often associated with a symbolic crumbling. Something that was well constituted or worked correctly collapses into a process that can be mentioned as a debacle.
Let’s take the case of an NGO aimed at helping the poor people of a country. The organization received citizen donations and government subsidies when it is discovered that its president was taking the funds. This person is imprisoned, but people stop collaborating with the NGO and the government withdraws their support. In the event of corruption, the entire board of directors also files the resignation. This is how the debacle of the organization occurs, which ends up closing its doors.
Similarly, we cannot overlook that the term debacle is widely used within the political sphere. Specifically, it is used to refer to what are some results of the choices that are held. So, for example, when you say that a party has experienced an electoral debacle, what is being exposed is that it has lost a lot of votes in relation to the polls and even in relation to previous elections.
There is also talk of a candidate’s electoral debacle when that was expected to be the winner of the election and not only does it fail to be, but also has a much lower percentage of votes than he expected. This situation can clearly lead to that candidate making the decision to stop being at the head of his party at that level and to give the position to another person who believes he can significantly improve his results in the coming election.
A sector of the economy, on the other hand, may suffer a debacle due to political measures that harm it. The authorities of a country, to name a case, decide to release imports of footwear and force an increase in the costs of local manufacturers by raising taxes. The national footwear industry, in this context, faces a debacle: producing is very expensive and foreign competition causes sales to fall.