The Routledge Dictionary of Politics, Third Edition
Discrimination in politics refers to the singling out—usually for unfavourable treatment—of certain groups which are defined by such characteristics as race, language, gender or religion. As a practice it is endemic in most societies; but during the 20th century, especially in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust, most democracies made serious efforts to combat it through legislation and judicial decisions. Reverse or positive discrimination (see affirmative action) has sometimes been adopted, and it has been suggested that in some circumstances (for example in the hiring of academics in the USA) it actually became be an advantage to be a member of a hitherto disadvantaged group.
In non-democratic societies official discrimination is still common.
In Iran under the Khomeini regime, for example, many people were executed simply for belonging to faiths other than the Shi‘ite form of Islam. In South Africa the systematic incorporation of racial discrimination into the laws of a state with a tradition of Christian and Western political values made it an object of widespread suspicion and dislike, and the ultimate abolition of apartheid was to a large extent a reaction to this international opprobrium. It is an open question whether the state can do much to prevent de facto discrimination in private economic and social relations, because the legal and administrative machinery has to be very complex, and discrimination can be extremely difficult to prove. Where such control has been tried, notably in the USA, it has only been partially successful.
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