Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from
Christopher Wyvill's Association movement which identified “Parliamentary Reform” as its primary aim.
[Reform in English Public Life: the fortunes of a word. Joanna Innes 2003] Reform is generally regarded as antithetical to
revolution.
Developing countries may carry out a wide range of reforms to improve their living standards, often with support from
international financial institutions
An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, al ...
and
aid agencies. This can include reforms to
macroeconomic policy, the
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, and
public financial management
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
.
In the United States,
rotation in office or
term limits
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...
would, by contrast, be more revolutionary, in altering basic political connections between incumbents and constituents.
Re-form
When used to describe something which is ''physically'' formed again, such as re-
casting (
mold/mould) or a
band that gets back together, the proper term is ''re-form'' (with a
hyphen), not "reform".
See also
*
Catalytic reforming
*
Education reform
*
Electoral reform
*
Land reform
*
Microeconomic reform
*
Monetary reform
Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system.
Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:
* A return t ...
*
Progressivism
*
Reform (Religion)
*
Reform movement
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary mo ...
*
Reformism
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...
*
Security sector governance and reform
*
Tax reform
*
University reform
*
Wall Street reform
Notes
References
Further reading
* Harrington, Mona. ''The Dream of Deliverance in American Politics''. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1986. x, 308 p.
{{Authority control
18th-century neologisms