Regime
 |
Look up regime or regimen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
The word regime (also "régime", from the original French pronunciation) refers to a set of conditions, most often of a political nature.
Contents |
Politics
In politics, a regime is the form of government: the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of government and its interactions with society. For instance, the United States has one of the oldest regimes still active in the world, dating to the ratification of its Constitution in 1789.
Modern usage
While the word regime originates as a synomym for any form of government, modern usage often gives the term a negative connotation, like an authoritarian government or dictatorship. Webster's definition states that the word "regime" refers simply to a form of government 1, while Oxford English Dictionary defines regime as "a government, especially an authoritarian one" 2. Nowadays the political use the word regime is most commonly applied to any government that is most of the time not democratically elected and impose strict and often arbitrary rules and laws on the people that are, because of the undemocratic nature of the government, non-negotiable.
International regime
International political use of "regime" concerns international regulatory agencies (see International regime), which lie outside of the control of national governments. These have more power over a greater range than postal or telecommunications agreements, for example, and constrain national governments.citation needed
Science
In scientific discussions, a regime is a class of physical conditions, usually parameterised by some specific measures, where a particular physical phenomenon or boundary condition is significant. Very often a regime corresponds to a limiting condition. The region of measurable parameter space that corresponds to a regime is very often loosely defined. Examples include "the superfluid regime",3 "the steady state regime"4 or "the femtosecond regime".5
In geography and hydrography, "regime" refers to the changing conditions of river beds and other features, such as systems of sandbars.
See also
- Ancien Régime
- Carbon audit regime
- Exchange rate regime
- International regime
- Legal practice
- Regime change
- Regime shift
- Regime theory
- River regime
Notes
Specific references:
- ^ Regime as defined in the Merriam–Webster website
- ^ Regime as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ Fermi gases approach superfluid regime
- ^ A. R. Kolovsky, Steady-state regime for the rotational dynamics of a molecule at the condition of quantum chaos, Phys. Rev. A 48 (1993) 3072
- ^ M. Lenzner et al., Femtosecond Optical Breakdown in Dielectrics, PRL 80 (1998) 4076
General references:
Essentials of Comparative Government, Patrick O'Neil.