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Initiative vs Policy - What's the difference?

initiative | policy |

As nouns the difference between initiative and policy

is that initiative is while policy is (obsolete) the art of governance; political science or policy can be a contract of insurance.

As a verb policy is

to regulate by laws; to reduce to order.

initiative

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A beginning; a first move.
  • A new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem.
  • The ability to act first or on one's own.
  • An issue to be voted on, brought to the ballot by a sufficient number of signatures from among the voting public.
  • Synonyms

    * (issue to be voted on) direct initiative

    Derived terms

    * direct initiative

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Serving to initiate; inceptive; initiatory; introductory; preliminary.
  • In which voter s can be brought to the ballot.
  • * John G. Matsusaka, "Direct Democracy and the Executive Branch", in, 2008, Shaun Bowler and Amihai Glazer, editors, Direct Democracy's Impact on American Political Institutions , , ISBN 9780230604452, page 122 [http://books.google.com/books?id=J6swcucKdNIC&pg=PA122&dq=initiative]:
  • The second row shows that initiative states fill more constitutional offices by election than noninitiative states, and the difference is statistically significant after controlling for region and population.

    Antonyms

    * noninitiative

    policy

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) policie, from . Compare police.

    Noun

    (policies)
  • (obsolete) The art of governance; political science.
  • * a. 1616 , (William Shakespeare), Henry V , I.1:
  • List his discourse of Warre; and you shall heare / A fearefull Battaile rendred you in Musique. / Turne him to any Cause of Pollicy , / The Gordian Knot of it he will vnloose, / Familiar as his Garter
  • (obsolete) A state; a polity.
  • (obsolete) A set political system; civil administration.
  • (obsolete) A trick; a stratagem.
  • * a. 1594 , (William Shakespeare), Titus Andronicus :
  • 'Tis pollicie , and stratageme must doe / That you affect, and so must you resolue, / That what you cannot as you would atcheiue, / You must perforce accomplish as you may.
  • A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body.
  • The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.
  • Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness.
  • * 1813 , Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice , Modern Library Edition (1995), page 140:
  • These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I with greater policy concealed my struggles, and flattered you
  • * Fuller
  • The very policy of a hostess, finding his purse so far above his clothes, did detect him.
  • (now, rare) Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.25:
  • Whether he believed himself a god, or only took on the attributes of divinity from motives of policy , is a question for the psychologist, since the historical evidence is indecisive.
  • (Scotland, now, chiefly, in the plural) The grounds of a large country house.
  • * 1955 , (Robin Jenkins), The Cone-Gatherers , Canongate 2012, page 36:
  • Next morning was so splendid that as he walked through the policies towards the mansion house despair itself was lulled.
  • (obsolete) Motive; object; inducement.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
  • What policy have you to bestow a benefit where it is counted an injury?
    Derived terms
    * policied * policymaker * policy shift * endowment policy * fiscal policy * honesty is the best policy * monetary policy * policy mix

    Verb

  • To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Policying of cities.''

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) police, from (etyl) polizza, from

    Noun

    (policies)
  • A contract of insurance
  • * Your insurance policy covers fire and theft only.
  • (obsolete) An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural )
  • A number pool lottery
  • Synonyms
    * (number pool) policy racket
    Derived terms
    * policyholder