"night watchman state" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Nachtwächterstaat"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat, which was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin. He used this term to criticize the idea of a state with minimal government, comparing it to a night watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "night watchman states",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "night watchman state"
      },
      "expansion": "night watchman state (plural night watchman states)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Forms of government",
          "orig": "en:Forms of government",
          "parents": [
            "Government",
            "Politics",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Libertarianism",
          "orig": "en:Libertarianism",
          "parents": [
            "Ideologies",
            "Politics",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Mark A. Graber, Transforming Free Speech: The Ambiguous Legacy of Civil Libertarianism, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 18:",
          "text": "The doctrines of conservative liberalism were propounded by the late nineteenth century's leading intellectual proponents of the night watchman state.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 February 1, Tristram Hunt, “The coalition holds Britain's cultural fabric in contempt”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "For these neoLiberal^([sic]) Democrats of the Orange Book school remain determined to junk social liberalism for economic liberalism. Their guiding light is the Gladstonian ideal of a low tax, laissez-faire, “night-watchman state”.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts."
      ],
      "id": "en-night_watchman_state-en-noun-TZUDPjXU",
      "qualifier": "political philosophy",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(political philosophy) Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "minarchy"
        },
        {
          "word": "minimal state"
        },
        {
          "word": "night-watchman state"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nachtwakersstaat"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "yövartijavaltio"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "État-gendarme"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Nachtwächterstaat"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Minimalstaat"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "estado vigilante nocturno"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "nattväktarstat"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Ferdinand Lassalle",
        "en:night-watchman state"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "night watchman state"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "Nachtwächterstaat"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of German Nachtwächterstaat, which was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin. He used this term to criticize the idea of a state with minimal government, comparing it to a night watchman whose sole duty was preventing theft.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "night watchman states",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "night watchman state"
      },
      "expansion": "night watchman state (plural night watchman states)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms calqued from German",
        "English terms derived from German",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "en:Forms of government",
        "en:Libertarianism"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1992, Mark A. Graber, Transforming Free Speech: The Ambiguous Legacy of Civil Libertarianism, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 18:",
          "text": "The doctrines of conservative liberalism were propounded by the late nineteenth century's leading intellectual proponents of the night watchman state.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011 February 1, Tristram Hunt, “The coalition holds Britain's cultural fabric in contempt”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "For these neoLiberal^([sic]) Democrats of the Orange Book school remain determined to junk social liberalism for economic liberalism. Their guiding light is the Gladstonian ideal of a low tax, laissez-faire, “night-watchman state”.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts."
      ],
      "qualifier": "political philosophy",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(political philosophy) Government that is limited to a bare minimum of functions, usually just military, police, and courts."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "minarchy"
        },
        {
          "word": "minimal state"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Ferdinand Lassalle",
        "en:night-watchman state"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "night-watchman state"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nachtwakersstaat"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "yövartijavaltio"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "État-gendarme"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Nachtwächterstaat"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Minimalstaat"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "estado vigilante nocturno"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "nattväktarstat"
    }
  ],
  "word": "night watchman state"
}