Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-09-28T18:56:28Z

Created a new article

New page

{{Short description|Group of people with a collective identity}}
{{other uses|Polity (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|policy}}
{{politics}}
A '''polity''' is a term for an identifiable [[Politics|political]] entity, defined as a group of people with a [[collective identity]], who are organized by some form of [[Institutionalisation|institutionalized]] [[social relation|social relations]], and have a capacity to mobilize resources.<ref>Ferguson, Yale; [[Richard W. Mansbach|Mansbach, Richard W.]] (1996). "Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change". Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.</ref> A polity can be any group of people organized for governance, such as the board of a corporation, the government of a country, or the government of a country subdivision. A polity may be a [[republic]] administered by an [[elected representative]] or the [[realm]] of a hereditary [[monarch]].

== Overview ==
[[File:Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.jpg|thumb|upright|Frontispiece of ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'', 1651]]
In [[geopolitics]], a polity can be manifested in different forms such as a [[State (polity)|state]], an [[empire]], an [[international organization]], a [[political organization]] and other identifiable, resource-manipulating organizational structures. A polity like a state does not need to be a [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] unit. The most preeminent polities today are [[Westphalian sovereignty|Westphalian states]] and [[nation-state]]s, commonly referred to as countries and also incorrectly referred to by the term [[nation]]s.

A polity encapsulates a vast multitude of organizations, many of which form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states such as their subordinate [[Civil authorities|civil]] and [[local government]] authorities.<ref>''Black's Law Dictionary'', 4th ed. (1968). West Publishing Co.</ref><ref>''Uricich v. Kolesar'', 54 Ohio App. 309, 7 N.E. 2d 413.</ref> Polities do not need to be in control of any geographic areas, as not all political entities and [[government]]s have controlled the resources of one fixed geographic area. The historical [[Nomadic empire|Steppe Empires]] originating from the [[Eurasian Steppe]] are the most prominent example of non-[[Sedentism|sedentary]] polities. These polities differ from states because of their lack of a fixed, defined territory. Empires also differ from states in that their territories are not statically defined or permanently fixed and consequently that their body politic was also dynamic and fluid. It is useful then to think of a polity as a political community.

A polity can also be defined either as a faction within a larger (usually state) entity or at different times as the entity itself. For example, Kurds in [[Iraqi Kurdistan]] are parts of their own separate and distinct polity. However, they are also members of the sovereign state of [[Iraq]] which is itself a polity, albeit one which is much less specific and as a result much less cohesive. Therefore, it is possible for an individual to belong to more than one polity at a time.

[[Thomas Hobbes]] was a highly significant figure in the [[concept]]ualisation of polities, in particular of states. Hobbes considered notions of the state and the [[body politic]] in ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'', his most notable work.<ref>Hobbes, Thomas (1651). [http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/authors/hobbes ''Leviathan'']. Retrieved 2 January 2019.</ref>

Polities do not necessarily need to be governments. A corporation, for instance, is capable of marshalling resources, has a governance structure, legal rights and exclusive jurisdiction over internal decision making. An ethnic community within a country or coast to coast entity may be a polity if they have sufficient organization and cohesive interests that can be furthered by such organization.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Politics}}
* ''[[Kokutai]]''
*[[Nation]]
* [[Politeia]]
* [[Political system]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060629232259/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-11 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas''] – analogy of the body politic (elaboration of correspondences between society or the state and the individual human body)
*[https://www.britannica.com/topic/polity Polity] at the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]

{{authority control}}
[[Category:Government]]

Polity - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article