night watchman state

See also: night-watchman state

English

Alternative forms

• night-watchman state

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.

Noun

night watchman state (plural night watchman states)

1. (political philosophy) Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts.

   Synonyms: minarchy, minimal state

   Coordinate terms: nanny state, welfare state

   • 1992, Mark A. Graber, Transforming Free Speech: The Ambiguous Legacy of Civil Libertarianism, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 18:

     The doctrines of conservative liberalism were propounded by the late nineteenth century's leading intellectual proponents of the night watchman state.

   • 2011 February 1, Tristram Hunt, “The coalition holds Britain's cultural fabric in contempt”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     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”.

Translations

Translations

• Dutch: nachtwakersstaat (nl) m
• Finnish: yövartijavaltio (fi)
• French: État-gendarme m
• German: Nachtwächterstaat (de) m, Minimalstaat m
• Spanish: estado vigilante nocturno m
• Swedish: nattväktarstat (sv) c