stat·ism | \ ˈstā-ˌti-zəm 
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\Definition of statism
: concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government often extending to government ownership of industry
… although dictator Augusto Pinochet made it the first Latin American country to steer away from statism in 1982, Chile struggled for seven years before the economy finally soared.— Marc Levinson with Tim Padgett Russia badly needs basic economic reform, not the roller-coaster-like changes between "free market" austerity and old-style statism. — Forbes
Examples of statism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web Their pedigree can be traced back to Plato, the father of statism.
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Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, "The Capital Letter: Week of October 19," 23 Oct. 2020 That would only accelerate the trends of uniformity, statism, and alienation, frustrating our long-range aims.
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Andy Smarick, National Review, "In Defense of Proceduralism," 17 Sep. 2020 The procedures of American conservatism can ward off statism, empower citizens, facilitate community action, and protect faith communities.
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Andy Smarick, National Review, "In Defense of Proceduralism," 17 Sep. 2020 Just as leaders then needed a rebuttal to the view that wartime centralized planning was superior to the free market and should be continued in peacetime, leaders today must be reminded that statism shouldn’t be the model for post-Covid governance.
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen, WSJ, "Reopen the Economy, More Open Than Ever," 17 June 2020 Alternatives of populist statism or socialism will both require greater public expenditure and worsen economic outcomes for everyone.
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The Economist, "America needs to fix capitalism to save it," 18 Oct. 2019 Populism was a central idea nearly every speaker vehemently opposed because of its ability to enable despotism and statism.
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Anthony Leonardi, Washington Examiner, "Never Trump Republicans defend 'principled conservatism' at anti-CPAC," 2 Mar. 2020 The ideology of the gold standard was laissez-faire; that of the Ph.D. standard (let’s call it) is statism.
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James Grant, WSJ, "The Fed Could Use a Golden Rule," 11 July 2019 The fact that this anti-statism, following the horseshoe, creates common ground between left populism and right populism, with all the hate, violence and injustice the latter breeds, is not a matter Stoller pursues.
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Benjamin C. Waterhouse, Washington Post, "A history of America’s fight against monopolies," 6 Dec. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'statism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for statism
The first known use of statism was in 1890
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