POLITY
polity
(noun) shrewd or crafty management of public affairs; “we was innocent of stratagems and polity”
polity
(noun) a politically organized unit
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
polity (plural polities)
(politics) An organizational structure of the government of a state, church, etc.
(political science) A politically organized unit; a state.
Source: Wiktionary
Pol"i*ty, n.; pl. Polities. Etym: [L. politia, Gr. politie. See 1st
Policy, Police.]
1. The form or constitution of the civil government of a nation or
state; the framework or organization by which the various departments
of government are combined into a systematic whole. Blackstone.
Hooker.
2. Hence: The form or constitution by which any institution is
organized; the recognized principles which lie at the foundation of
any human institution.
Nor is possible that any form of polity, much less polity
ecclesiastical, should be good, unless God himself be author of it.
Hooker.
3. Policy; art; management. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Syn.
– Policy.
– Polity, Policy. These two words were originally the same. Polity
is now confined to the structure of a government; as, civil or
ecclesiastical polity; while policy is applied to the scheme of
management of public affairs with reference to some aim or result;
as, foreign or domestic policy. Policy has the further sense of
skillful or cunning management.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition