Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply |
Member |
On the radio today I heard a new word, dirigisme, and I managed to get the text, noted here, from an on-line audio clip. There is nothing more in the on-line dictionaries. Can anyone give a more thorough explanation? quote: | ||
|
Member |
Google's French > English translation facility translates it as "state intervention". Did you check the online French dictionaries? Ultralingua French > English gives "intervention by the state (Economics)". Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
|
Member |
>There is nothing more in the on-line dictionaries. OneLook® led me to this Encarta entry: government control: full and direct government control of a country’s economy and social institutions [Mid-20th century. From French, where it was formed from diriger “to direct,” from Latin dirigere (see direct).] --- OED2 has citations for dirigiste, dirigistic. | |||
|
Member |
Quotes: The French call it dirigisme or state intervention. Google's French > English translation facility translates it as "state intervention". Ultralingua French > English gives "intervention by the state (Economics)." But Encarta entry: full and direct government control of a country’s economy and social institutions Isn't there a pretty major difference, the one being periodic case-by-case intervention, the other being Orwellian central control? Can we pin down this concept any better? | |||
|
Member |
That depends on the context. It can be used for occasional intervention; for example, if a government decides that a company is too valuable to the nation to be allowed to go bankrupt, or it can be used for full control, as in communist countries. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
|