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night watchman state

noun

Etymology

Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat, which was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin. He used this term to criticize the idea of a state with minimal government, comparing it to a night watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft.

  1. derived from socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin
  2. derived from Nachtwächterstaat

Definitions

  1. Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police,…

    Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts.

    • The doctrines of conservative liberalism were propounded by the late nineteenth century's leading intellectual proponents of the night watchman state.
    • For these neoLiberal^([sic]) Democrats of the Orange Book school remain determined to junk social liberalism for economic liberalism. Their guiding light is the Gladstonian ideal of a low tax, laissez-faire, “night-watchman state”.

The neighborhood

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA