Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The practice or inclination to direct (activities) by a central authority. See also dirigiste.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any economy in which the government exerts a strong directive influence, often with substantial, but not all, of the characteristics of a centrally planned economy.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French dirigisme, from diriger ("to run, to direct"), from Latin dirigere, present active infinitive of dīrigō ("direct, steer")

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Examples

  • As a unifying Europe asserts its regulatory muscle, its entrepreneurs are in flight to the United States, where they are less subject to what the French call dirigisme, or direction by bureaucrats.

    The Amazing Euroman 2007

  • I had to switch over to Merriam Webster on line to look up "dirigisme".

    Sound Politics: Because dirigisme has worked so well in France 2007

  • Government intervention could manage to limit the credit decline to less than 10%, at the cost of more capital injections, further longer-term guarantees of liabilities, tolerance of higher leverage within socialized banks, and not a little credit "dirigisme," i.e., directing banks to lend.

    How Far Will Deleveraging Go? 2008

  • Specifically, she sold off national assets at obscenely undervalued prices, while subjecting the rest of the public sector (forty per cent of the economy) to an unprecedented level of central government 'dirigisme' (and not in the goodw ay used on my blog, before anypone chips in with that one).

    Margaret Thatcher's Greatest Achievements 2007

  • Specifically, she sold off national assets at obscenely undervalued prices, while subjecting the rest of the public sector forty per cent of the economy to an unprecedented level of central government 'dirigisme'.

    Surprise of the Week: Hitchens Critical of Cameron 2007

  • He speaks openly of his firm belief in the virtues of "dirigisme" and the Kremlin's strong "manual control."

    The Moscow Times By Vladimir Ryzhkov 2010

  • But governments are now "part of bank management so may limit credit losses to less than 10%, Roche believes, but a a cost - more capital injections, further longer-term liability guarantees, tolerating higher leverage in" socialized banks, "plus more than a little" dirigisme, "or directing banks to lend.

    Global Economic Tremors 2008

  • In finance as in agriculture, the EU could become a promoter of dirigisme and trade distortion rather than a vehicle for free trade.

    Europe's Single Market Isn't a Free Market Philip Booth 2011

  • But it does seem to excite admiration among Western pundits with a soft spot for economic dirigisme and technocratic politics.

    Red Scare Reprise 2011

  • Erdogan's story illustrates the West's political dirigisme of the Islamic sphere -- which has backfired so often elsewhere.

    What's Going On With Turkey? 2010

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