Proscription (Latin:proscriptio) is, in current usage, a 'decree of condemnation to death or banishment' (Oxford English Dictionary) and can be used in a political context to refer to state-approved murder or banishment. The termoriginated in Ancient Rome, where it included public identification and official condemnation of declaredenemies of the state and it often involved confiscation of property.[1]
Its usage has been significantly widened to describe governmental and political sanctions of varying severity on individuals and classes of people who have fallen into disfavor, from theen masse suppression of adherents of unorthodox ideologies to the suppression of political rivals or personal enemies. In addition to its recurrences during the various phases of theRoman Republic, it has become a standard term to label:
The broad prohibitions of Jewish cultural institutions and activities in theSoviet Union after the birth of the state ofIsrael in 1948 and the onset of the1948 Arab–Israeli War[7]
The banning of organisations considered terrorist—including the membership of and support for—in Ireland, particularly theProvisional IRA and theINLA in the 1970s.[8]
^For example:Alison, Archibald (2011) [1833].History of Europe During the French Revolution. History of Europe during the French Revolution 10 Volume Paperback Set. Vol. 2 (reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 309.ISBN9781108025386. Retrieved2016-01-09.St Just [...] demanded the execution of victims in the same manner as the supply of armies. Proscription like victories were essential to the furtherance of his principles.
^Edward Henry Nolan, 1856,The history of the war against Russia, Vol. 5 (Illustr.), London:Virtue, p. 62, seebooks.google.com, accessed 18 April 2015.
