Word.ws English Dictionary

prerogative state

prerogative state noun: a governmental system that exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees.

Noun

prerogative state (plural prerogative states)

  1. A governmental system that exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees.
    • Post-communist development in Russia has been characterized by the development of a dual state in which the constitutional order is balanced by the consolidation of an arbitrary prerogative state.2010, Richard Sakwa, “The revenge of the Caucasus: Chechenization and the dual state in Russia”, in Nationalities Papers, volume 38, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 601–622
    • As neo-authoritarianism advances, the [Chinese Communist] Party moves to the front stage and becomes hands-on in managing important affairs, crowding out legal rules and institutions. It has expanded and solidified a prerogative state to solve politically sensitive matters through substantively...2019 March 20, Hualing Fu, “Touching the Proverbial Elephant: The Multiple Shades of Chinese Law”, in China Perspectives, volume 2019, number 1, →ISSN, pages 3–9

Forms of prerogative state

pluralprerogative states

Origin of prerogative state

Coined by German-Jewish lawyer Ernst Fraenkel in his book The Dual State (1941). The "dual state", originally referring to Nazi Germany, was made up of the normative state and the prerogative state.

Questions about prerogative state

What does prerogative state mean?
Prerogative state means a governmental system that exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees.
What part of speech is prerogative state?
Prerogative state is a noun.
What is the plural of prerogative state?
The plural of prerogative state is prerogative states.

Words near prerogative state in the dictionary

  1. Prerog.
  2. prerogatival
  3. prerogative
  4. prerogative court
  5. prerogative courts
  6. prerogative state
  7. prerogative states
  8. prerogative writ
  9. prerogative writs
  10. prerogatived
  11. prerogatively

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prerogative state (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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