Electoralism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A state of partial transition from authoritarian rule toward democratic rule, in which the regime conducts the electoral aspects of democratic governance in a relatively free and fair manner. uncountable
- 2 The strategy of electing politicians into a representative government in order to create political change. uncountable
"“In December, 1906, […] the great obstacle between the Confederation General du Travail and the Socialist party, the only organized forces of the working-class, was the electoralism which dominated the party. Today, in 1912, the great obstacle is the anti-parliamentarism which rages within the C. G. T.”"
Example
More examples"“In December, 1906, […] the great obstacle between the Confederation General du Travail and the Socialist party, the only organized forces of the working-class, was the electoralism which dominated the party. Today, in 1912, the great obstacle is the anti-parliamentarism which rages within the C. G. T.”"
Etymology
From electoral + -ism. First used in the transitional sense by Terry Karl, professor of political science at Stanford University.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.