statism

noun

stat·​ism ˈstā-ˌti-zəm 

: 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

According to the Financial Times, the brother of Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim leader, had held talks last year with officials in Washington, a detail which offered a whiff of Cold War client-statism and raised the question of what Rodríguez might have promised them. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2026

With notable exceptions like energy deregulation and AI policy, Trump-era statism and protectionism takes a page from Democrats’ interventionist playbook: imposing tariffs that restrict supply, picking winners and inflating costs. —Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 15 Nov. 2025

Milei’s libertarian economic program directly countered the Peronists’ statism, but his demagogic political style mirrors that of the old strongmen. —Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 26 Oct. 2025

My country, Nigeria, was long caught in the throes of statism—and crisis after crisis followed. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for statism

• ism
• pisum
• prism
• schism
• abolitionism
• aldosteronism
• americanism
• anticommunism
• antisemitism
• antiterrorism
• bioterrorism
• colloquialism