Meanings
- IrelandUKderogatoryinformaluncountablegovernmentPolitical activity that is more evidently concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest.
Unfortunately, the parish-pump politics this perpetuates is congenitally unsuited to deal with the demands of a modern European society.
1981, Electoral Politics in Ireland: Party and Parish Pump, page 1442 more examples
Never avoid bars or smoke-rooms, because in the former case you miss the chance of marrying a flirt, and in the latter of having your mind improved by local parish-pump politics, and your head broken by a fool in his cups.
[1875?], Thomas Bardel Brindley, chapter I, in Hints, Humorous and Satirical, to All the World and His Wife. […], 3rd edition, London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. […], →OCLC, paragraph 7, page 6Where others looked at Canadian regionalism and saw a fruitful and admirable diversity of human experience, Laskin saw petty fiefdoms, parish pump politics, and constricted horizons.
2005, Bora Laskin: Bringing Law to Life, University of Toronto Press, page 22Synonyms: parochialism, provincialism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounPolitical activity that is more evidently concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest.
Translations
Bulgarian местни интереси
- местни интереси (mestni interesi)political activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
Finnish siltarumpupolitiikka
- siltarumpupolitiikkapolitical activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
German Beschränktheit, Kirchturmpolitik
- Beschränktheitpolitical activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
- Kirchturmpolitikpolitical activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
- Engstirnigkeitpolitical activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
- Provinzialismuspolitical activity concerned with addressing the immediate needs of the local electorate than with strategy that might affect the national interest
Cite this entry
parish pump politics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parish%20pump%20politics
“parish pump politics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parish%20pump%20politics. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parish pump politics,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parish%20pump%20politics.
Source: parish pump politics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.