statism — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Synonym of secularism: subservience of religious issues to political officials and expediency.

   Usage

   • Derogatory
   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Religion turned into Statisme, will soone prooue Atheisme.

2. Synonym of statecraft or statesmanship.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   My great Cousin hauing euermore From my greene yeares accepted my aduise In points of statisme...

3. Synonym of government or governance.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   [The Ten Commandments] have formed the basis of every system of statism adopted by the civilized communities of the earth.

4. The belief that most or all political power should be centralized in national governments.

   Usage

   • Derogatory
   • often
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   etatismauthoritarianismtotalitarianismbig governmentdirigisme

   Broader terms

   paternalism

   Examples

   Near-synonyms: big government, dirigisme

   Bismarck... believes in State insurance in State activities, in place of individual action. But this is not Socialism. It is Statism.

   More examples (3)

   Republican Senator Charles L. McNary concluded his Vice-Presidential campaign tonight with the charge the New Deal is ‘taking deeper and deeper refuge in paternalism and statism’.

   As the economic derivative of libertarianism, laissez-faire capitalism is an economics of life, of rationality. […] And, like libertarianism, it is the only viable solution to the catastrophe of statism in the modern age.

   […]; social welfare policies reward parasitical living rather than risk-taking; a truly atavistic, sick attachment to the compulsion and non-meritocratic elitism of statism as a way of life; […] have all retarded and will continue to retard Europeans.

5. The belief that most or nearly all political power should be decentralized to provincial governments.

   Usage

   • Derogatory
   • often
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   regionalismfederalismprovincialism

   Examples

   The joint note of Austria and Prussia... appears thus to have worked more good than moderation and good sense generally achieve over faction and petty-Statism.

   To him... we owe that sentiment of nationalism prevailing over statism... without which the Union would have parted.

6. The belief that the state is a legitimate social institution.

   Usage

   • Derogatory
   • often
   • Uncountable

   Antonyms

   anarchism