Les Intraduisibles: English-German
English-GermanPolitics, Policy, Polity
Nothing more central to our discipline, and still, "intraduisible"? German offers "Politik" - a single term, which encompasses all three, politics, policy, and polity, but which does not reflect the differences between these. There are, of course, ways to explain these in German, but the English terms have become the standard terms in the German academic vocabulary. German textbooks will note in their introduction to political science the three distinct dimensions of "Politik", to then label these with the English terms polity, politics and policy? They may vary in how they explain these terms, but hardly any author argues for translating them. See also entry for "Politik" in the German-English dictionary.
Hoffmann Bert 12/1/2005
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