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Estado Unitario Social de Derecho

English translation: Social Unitary State of Community Plurinational Law

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:Estado Unitario Social de Derecho
English translation:Social Unitary State of Community Plurinational Law
Entered by: Daltry Gárate

15:47 Nov 15, 2011
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics
Spanish term or phrase: Estado Unitario Social de Derecho
Estimados colegas:

El término se encuentra en el Artículo 1 de la CPE de Bolivia:

“Bolivia se constituye en un ***Estado Unitario Social de Derecho*** Plurinacional Comunitario, libre, independiente, soberano, democrático, intercultural, descentralizado y con autonomías."


Además del dilema de acomodar bien todos esos adjetivos me intriga saber cómo traducir "Estado [...] de Derecho". Apelo a su experiencia. Gracias de antemano.
Daltry Gárate
Bolivia
Local time: 11:38
Social Unitarian State of (Community Plurinational) Law
Explanation:
It may depend on the date of the document you are translating:

Bolivia Government Profile 2011
Home > Bolivia

Country name
conventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia

conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia

Government type
republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"

http://www.indexmundi.com/bolivia/government_profile.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2011-11-15 17:24:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Having had a quick look at Phil’s sound references and reasoning, I would go with “Social Unitarian State”, do a bit of reading on the Plurinacional Comunitario concept and render a brief description in brackets, taking into account that “Social Unitarian State” is how Bolivia describes itself in its constitution , as confirmed, for example, on the CIA's website, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
Selected response from:

Richard Hill
Mexico
Local time: 10:38
Grading comment
Mil gracias
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Social Unitarian State of (Community Plurinational) Law
Richard Hill
5social unitary state (of plurinational, community/communitarian law)
Shana Yael Shubs
4unitary constitutional welfare state
philgoddard
4 -1Rechtsstaat
Andrew Bramhall
Summary of reference entries provided
CPE
philgoddard

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Rechtsstaat


Explanation:
There are rough English language approximations, but the cobncept is a central European one, based on the German word "Rechtstaat".
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_de_Derecho

Andrew Bramhall
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:38
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  philgoddard: How on earth can you use a German word in the constitution of Bolivia? And what about 'unitario social'?
1 min
  -> If you'd actually bothered to open the link I'd posted, and read the comment below my answer, neither of which you did, you'd have found out.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
unitary constitutional welfare state


Explanation:
A unitary state (not unitarian, which usually has a religious meaning) is
"A state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions (subnational units) exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state

An estado de derecho is a state governed by the rule of law, ie a constitutional state:
"El Estado de derecho es aquel Estado en el que sus autoridades se rigen, permanecen y están sometidas a un derecho vigente en lo que se conoce como un Estado de derecho formal."
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_de_derecho

And a welfare state doesn't necessarily mean one which provides cradle-to-grave social care. It's a
"concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_state

The asker does not ask about "plurinacional comunitario". This phrase does not belong with "derecho", and it doesn't mean "plurinational community law" or anything like that. It has a specific meaning in relation to the indigenous communities of Latin America, and is discussed here:

http://libertadesdemocraticas.blogspot.com/2008/09/estado-so...



philgoddard
United States
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 123

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Shana Yael Shubs: I agree that unitary is better than unitarian, though unitarian is used commonly in many official sources. However, I don't believe that 'welfare state' is appropriate here.
31 mins
  -> No, in practice the Bolivian government doesn't do a very good job of looking after the people's welfare - but that's what its constitution says in theory.
neutral  Nigel Wheatley: "welfare state" in this context sounds very strange to British ears, although it may well be fine if the translation is for a North American audience. agree about "unitary" rather than "unitarian"
3 hrs
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Social Unitarian State of (Community Plurinational) Law


Explanation:
It may depend on the date of the document you are translating:

Bolivia Government Profile 2011
Home > Bolivia

Country name
conventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia

conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia

Government type
republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"

http://www.indexmundi.com/bolivia/government_profile.html

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2011-11-15 17:24:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Having had a quick look at Phil’s sound references and reasoning, I would go with “Social Unitarian State”, do a bit of reading on the Plurinacional Comunitario concept and render a brief description in brackets, taking into account that “Social Unitarian State” is how Bolivia describes itself in its constitution , as confirmed, for example, on the CIA's website, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...

Richard Hill
Mexico
Local time: 10:38
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 34
Grading comment
Mil gracias

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Shana Yael Shubs: I agree! Though I would choose Plurinational Community Law instead of Community Plurinational.
34 mins
  -> Thanks Shana
neutral  philgoddard: I disagree with "community plurinational law" - see my answer.
56 mins
  -> Thanks for the clarification Phil
agree  Nigel Wheatley: but with "Unitary" instead of "Unitarian": there is no need to propagate what is obviously a bad translation!
4 hrs
  -> True! Thanks Nigel
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
social unitary state (of plurinational, community/communitarian law)


Explanation:
http://links.org.au/node/1167
(Full disclosure: I translated this article, but a Google search reveals numerous others)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2011-11-15 18:42:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

An alternative based on Phil's discussion above of the constitutional state could be:

social unitary state governed by a plurinational, communitarian constitution

(and certainly the estado de derecho does refer to the constitution, though I'm not sure that 'state of law' is inappropriate either in this context)

Shana Yael Shubs
Canada
Local time: 11:38
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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Reference comments


7 mins
Reference: CPE

Reference information:
You've probably worked out that it's the constitution, but it stands for constitución politica del estado.

philgoddard
United States
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 123

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Andrew Bramhall: Yes, but it can't just be translated literally for a European and possibly U.S. audience, as Rich's answer above shows.It'd just bamboozle them.
30 mins
  -> I wasn't suggesting a translation. I'm just telling you what it stands for.
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