# Polity > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Polity > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Polity.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polity > Source revision: 1355772111 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Group of people with a collective identity For other uses, see [Polity (disambiguation)](/source/Polity_(disambiguation)). Part of a series on Politics Outline Index Category Primary topics Outline of political science Index of politics articles Politics by country Politics by subdivision Political economy Political history Political history of the world Political philosophy Systems Anarchy City-state Collective leadership Confessional Democracy Dictatorship Directorial Federacy Feudalism Hybrid regime Meritocracy Monarchy Parliamentary Presidential Republic Semi-parliamentary Semi-presidential Theocracy Academic disciplines Political science (political scientists) International relations (theory) Comparative politics Election science Political analysis Political theory Policy studies Political psychology Political sociology Public administration Bureaucracy (street-level) Technocracy Adhocracy Service (Public / Civil) Policy Public policy (doctrine) Domestic policy Foreign policy Civil society Public interest Government branches Separation of powers Legislature Executive Judiciary Election commission Related topics Sovereignty Polity / State / Country Biology and political orientation Critique of political economy Political censorship Political organisations Theories of political behavior Subseries Electoral systems Elections voting Unitarism Federalism Government (forms / Governance) Ideology Culture Political campaigning Political parties Politics portal v t e A **polity** is a group of [people](/source/People) with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of [political](/source/Politics), [institutionalized](/source/Institutionalisation), [social relations](/source/Social_relation), and have a capacity to mobilize resources.[1][2] It is the unit or entity of a political community or [body politic](/source/Body_politic).[3] ## Overview Frontispiece of *[Leviathan](/source/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book))*, 1690 In [geopolitics](/source/Geopolitics), a polity can manifest in different forms such as a province, a nation, a [state](/source/State_(polity)), an [empire](/source/Empire), an [international organization](/source/International_organization), a [political organization](/source/Political_organization) or another identifiable, resource-manipulating organizational structure. A polity like a state does not need to be a [sovereign](/source/Sovereignty) unit. The preeminent polities today are [Westphalian states](/source/Westphalian_sovereignty) and [nation-states](/source/Nation-state), commonly referred to as countries. The term *country* may refer to a variety of types of polity: usually to a [sovereign state](/source/Sovereign_state), but also to a [state with limited recognition](/source/List_of_states_with_limited_recognition), a [constituent country](/source/Country_(disambiguation)#Administrative_divisions) of a sovereign state, or a [dependent territory](/source/Dependent_territory).[4][5][6] A polity may encapsulate a multitude of organizations. Many of these form (or are involved in) the administrative apparatus of contemporary nation states: such as their subordinate [civil](/source/Civil_authorities), regional, and [local government](/source/Local_government) authorities.[7][8] [Thomas Hobbes](/source/Thomas_Hobbes) was a highly significant figure in the [conceptualisation](/source/Concept) of polities, in particular of states. Hobbes considered notions of the state and the [body politic](/source/Body_politic) in *[Leviathan](/source/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book))*, his most notable work.[9] ## See also - [Politics portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Politics) - *[Kokutai](/source/Kokutai)* - [Nation](/source/Nation) - [Politeia](/source/Politeia) - [Political system](/source/Political_system) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Ferguson, Yale; [Mansbach, Richard W.](/source/Richard_W._Mansbach) (1996). *Polities: Authority, Identities, and Change*. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1570031282](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1570031282). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Corry, Olaf (2010). ["What is a (Global) polity?"](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210510000975). *Review of International Studies*. **36**: 157–180. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S0260210510000975](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0260210510000975). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Collins, Stephanie; Lawford-Smith, Holly (2021). ["We the People: Is the Polity the State?"](https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2020.15). *Journal of the American Philosophical Association*. **7**: 78–97. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/apa.2020.15](https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fapa.2020.15). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fowler_Bunck_1996_pp._381–404_4-0)** Fowler, Michael Ross; Bunck, Julie Marie (1996). "What constitutes the sovereign state?". *Review of International Studies*. **22** (4). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 381–404. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/s0260210500118637](https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0260210500118637). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0260-2105](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0260-2105). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [145809847](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145809847). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-World_Population_by_Country_2024_(Live)_1945_w673_5-0)** ["Countries Not in the United Nations 2024"](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-not-in-the-un). *World Population by Country 2024 (Live)*. June 26, 1945. Retrieved March 2, 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-academic.oup.com_i784_6-0)** Talmon, Stefan (2001). ["Recognition and its Variants"](https://academic.oup.com/book/43016/chapter-abstract/361359523?redirectedFrom=fulltext). *Recognition of Governments in International Law: With Particular Reference to Governments in Exile*. Oxford Academic. Retrieved March 2, 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** *Black's Law Dictionary*, 4th ed. (1968). West Publishing Co. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** *Uricich v. Kolesar*, 54 Ohio App. 309, 7 N.E. 2d 413. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Hobbes, Thomas (1651). [*Leviathan*](http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/authors/hobbes). Retrieved 2 January 2019. ## External links Look up ***[polity](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/polity)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. - ["Analogy of the Body Politic"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060629232259/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-11) – at the *[Dictionary of the History of Ideas](/source/Dictionary_of_the_History_of_Ideas)* - [Polity](https://www.britannica.com/topic/polity) at the [Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica) Authority control databases: National Japan --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Polity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polity) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polity?action=history)). 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