Talk:List of people by name: Es
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[edit] Colonial Governor
Inside comment markup, an editor asks of Adolph Esmit (fl. late 17th cent.), Danish West Indies governor
- is there a better way to phrase this? "politician" is not a proper word for a colonial governor.
As to nationality, i expect that his nativity was, and legally his nationality remained, Danish, and note that "Danish West Indies" is ambiguous between a "nationality" that he lacked and a primary location of operations, which we don't try to establish on LoPbn (except to the sense that it often coincides with someone's passport).
As to calling, i agree that
- "politician" is not a proper word for a colonial governor
As a rule, colonial governors primarily carry out policy that from the legal, and often the practical, point of view, is made (or "set") by the institutions of the colonial "master" country, so i see them as less like pols than like the professional (career) administrators who staff government agencies and carry out the policies set by officials who are elected or "politically" appointed (by policy makers above them): their role in policy making is (or supposed to be) providing politicians with information about relevant factual background and projected effects of potential policy measures.
I also object to the use of the term "governor" even in nominal colonies that have locally controlled political processes for choosing their governors, or in subdivisions of fully sovereign countries. The term is still not descriptive of a calling common to the various people who are addressed as "Gov. Joseph Schmo", bcz their balance between politicians' and administrators' work depends on the country or even the relevant subdivision of their country.
My own approach is that if your title is governor, analysis of the bio article and the "politics of ..." articles that are or should be lk'd from your bio is required, to determine whether you are a politician or an administrator; i assume colonial governors are administrators until claims to the contrary are made.
--Jerzy•t 07:08, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
