polity
Pluralpolities
- 1A politically organized community or group, such as a nation, the governing class within it, or the state it rules.
Like a corporation that counts as a single legal body even though many people belong to it.
The treaty bound several independent polities into a single federation.
A modern polity must balance the demands of its citizens against outside pressures.
Note
Political science uses this sense to count, and it takes a plural: new polities rose in Europe after Rome fell, and a treaty can bind several polities into one federation. The term is useful because it stays neutral, covering a nation, its ruling class or the state without saying which. Where the sense of governance asks how a body is ordered, this one counts the bodies themselves.
- 2The organizational structure and system of governance of a body such as a state or a religion.
Like an organizational chart that defines roles, ranks, and lines of authority.
Presbyterian polity places authority in elected assemblies rather than individual bishops.
Scholars compared the polity of the early republic with that of the monarchy it replaced.
Similargovernance, government, constitution
Note
Political theory and theology share this sense: church polity, Buddhist polity, the polity of an empire. It came through Middle French from Greek politeía, "the state," and it is a doublet of policy and police, three English words from one Greek source. Polity names how a body is ordered, while policy names what that body decides to do. Here the word is usually uncountable.
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Origin
This word came through Middle French politie from Latin politia, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía), meaning "polity, policy, the state." It is a doublet of policy and police.