Contemporary Political Regimes: Conceptual Understanding Of Political Regime

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Conceptual Understanding of political regime The word regime refers to a set of circumstances, most frequently of a political nature, such as a government. In politics, a regime is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. While the word regime originates as a synonym for any form of government, modern usage often gives the term a negative connotation, implying an authoritarian government or dictatorship. Webster 's definition states that the word regime refers simply to a form of government, while Oxford English Dictionary defines regime as a government, especially an authoritarian one. Nowadays the political use of the word regime is most commonly applied to any government that is most of the time not democratically elected and imposes strict and often arbitrary rules and laws on the people that are, because of the undemocratic nature of the government, non-negotiable. Contemporary academic usage of the term regime is broader than popular and journalistic usage, meaning an intermediate stratum between the government (which makes day-to-day decisions and is easy to alter) and the state (which is a complex bureaucracy tasked with a range of coercive functions). In global studies and international relations the concept of regime is also used to name international regulatory agencies, which lie outside of the control of national governments. Some

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