political unit

plural political units

1. Synonym of political entity.

   Traditionally, a Papua New Guinea clan or village is a political unit in a much smaller public, the boundaries of which must be determined in each case from the point of view of the participants.

   1973, Herbert Ian Hogbin, Anthropology in Papua New Guinea

   5 more examples

   In the Southern States, where the county type of local government prevails, conditions are reversed. There the county is the political unit, and the administration of all local matters, except educational and municipal affairs, is intrusted to county officers.

   S:The New International Encyclopædia/United States

   Any definition of a manor, in land tenure, must take note of two elements—economic and political. The manor has an estate for its basis, although it need not coincide with an estate, but may be wider. It is also a political unit, a district formed for purposes of government, although the political functions made over to it may greatly vary.

   S:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Manor

   In many modern states, and in some ancient, there is great diversity of populations, of varying languages, religions, moral codes, and traditions. From this standpoint, many a minor political unit, one of our large cities, for example, is a congeries of loosely associated societies, rather than an inclusive and permeating community of action and thought.

   S:Democracy and Education/Chapter VII

   From the caucus of a small political unit, such as the town or the Assembly district, were sent the various constituent members of a larger and similar conference representing, and acting for, the voters of a Congressional district or of an entire State.

   S:The New International Encyclopædia/Caucus

   India is a political unit in the sense that it is ruled by one and the same Government; but Europe is a political unit in the sense that the European nations possess some common political ideas which govern their relations with other ...

   1926, G.A. Natesan, The Indian Review

   Synonyms: political entity

2. The smallest group of one or more people that operates at a political level.

   Also the constitution of the Amphictyones, “the dwellers around the temple” reflects the early age when the tribe rather than the city was the political unit, and the Dorians were a small tribe of north Greece.

   S:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Oracle

   1 more example

   The western idea of the liberty and dignity of the individual, as distinct from the community to which he belongs, is wholly alien to the Chinese mind. The political unit in China is not the individual but the family, and the father of the family is supposed to be responsible for the qualities and views of all his kin.

   S:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/China