social science terminology help

Question

Hi all,

I need a gloss in South American Spanish for "polity".

Thanks!

Could you enlarge, do you mean policy? - annierats, Jun 19, 2013

Answer 1

It depends on how abstract you want the term to be. The root of all these words and concepts is the Greek polis, which is not that far off from some meanings of "pueblo". "Politeness" also ultimately derives from the same root. When Aristotle says what is in now almost invariably translated as "Man is a political animal", what he is actually saying is, "Man is an animal designed or fit to live in a polis".

Answer 2

The Italians have sistema di governo and gestione politica, which is significant, since they defined the modern idea of "state" after the Latin, and are not using any variations of that term to translate the English "polity".

Answer 3

Neither of these do it--gobierno or estado. If someone has an ancient Greek-Spanish dictionary, one might look up politeia and see what they have.

Answer 4

Some of the renderings in passages from Linguee for "polity" are: sistema político, sistema de gobierno, & la política.

Answer 5

"Polity" denotes the political constitution of a city-state, state, and so forth--the way it governs and is governed. "Polity" and "policy" are closely connected etymologically, as is "police" but they are quite different. "Polity" is usually considered static, "policy" constitutes the measures, in and outside law, that the polity effects.