stasiology

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French stasiologie, coined in 1951 by French jurist, sociologist and politician Maurice Duverger (1917–2014) from stase (“stasis”) + -iologie (“-ology, indicating the study of a particular subject”), because of the way the opposition of political parties tends to prevent governments from making dramatic changes.

1. The study of political parties.

   “The development of the science of political parties (it could perhaps be called stasiology).”

   “In this study, in the light of latest trends in stasiology, an attempt is made to examine the potential role of political parties in initiating, directing and managing social, economic and political changes in Himachal Pradesh.”

2. The process by which a governing body remains static or self-perpetuating due to internal conflict.

   “His Encounter review (September 1960) included the following prophetic passage about ‘stasiology’: the study of the breakdown or paralysis of the State.”

   “As for the stasiology evoked therein (which would be working either at the heart of the One, or in the centre of a Trinity or Holy Family), this is a motif which – in different words, in another style and in view of other consequences – could very well describe one of the subterranean but utterly continuous themes of this essay: […]”