bloc

1. A group of nations, parties, or persons united for common action: the Communist bloc.
2. An often bipartisan coalition of legislators acting together for a common purpose or interest: the farm bloc in the U.S. Senate.

[French, from Old French, block. See block.]

noun

1. An association, especially of nations for a common cause: alliance, Anschluss, cartel, coalition, confederacy, confederation, federation, league, organization, union. See connect, group, politics.
2. A group of individuals united in a common cause: cartel, coalition, combination, combine, faction, party, ring. See group.

An alliance of governments, groups, or parties with a common purpose. Trading blocs, such as the North America Free Trade Association, are usually geographically contiguous, but no such constraint operates with investment blocs, such as the bloc comprising Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Blocs, a name given to organized voting groups in American legislative bodies, and more loosely, to associations of pressure groups attempting to lobby in American legislatures. In either case, the purpose of organizing a bloc is to create a group of legislators who will vote together consistently on certain issues. Blocs are highly organized, are based on closely shared interests, and command a high degree of loyalty from their members. A farm bloc, a protectionist bloc, a wet bloc, a dry bloc, a progressive bloc, and a veterans' bloc were all active in Congress during the early to middle twentieth century. After World War II the veterans' bloc and the protectionist bloc lost considerable influence. A labor bloc and a civil rights bloc rose to prominence in their place, but neither had an organization in Congress.

The rise of political action committees (PACs) in the late twentieth century supplanted blocs, making PACs the major lobbyists in Congress. The intensification of congressional partisanship during the 1990s weakened the power of bipartisan blocs, but it simultaneously strengthened the hand of ideological blocs within the two major parties. By 2002 virtually every bloc drew on PACs for fund-raising and congressional lobbying.

Bibliography

Gais, Thomas. Improper Influence: Campaign Finance Law, Political Interest Groups, and the Problem of Equality. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996.

Ness, Immanuel. Encyclopedia of Interest Groups and Lobbyists in the United States. Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe, 2000.

Sheppard, Burton D. Rethinking Congressional Reform: The Re-form Roots of the Special Interest Congress. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Books, 1985.

—Robert Eyestone/A. G.

Tutor's tip: One "bloc" (group united for joint action) wanted to "block" (prevent) the action of the other bloc.

Not to be confused with Block.

Look up bloc in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bloc may refer to:

• Eastern Bloc, a former group of countries in Europe
• Bloc Québécois, a political party in Canada
• Valencian Nationalist Bloc, a political party in Land of Valencia
• Voting bloc, a group of voters voting together
• Bloc voting, a type of multiple-winner voting system
• Trade bloc
• Black bloc, a tactic used at protests, often by anarchist-aligned groups
• Bloc Party, a modern music group
• Bloc Weekend, an electronic music festival in the UK
• Bloc, a UK manufacturer of eyewear, in particular sunglasses and goggles.
• Bloc Projects, an artist run gallery in Sheffield, UK

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - blok

Nederlands (Dutch)
blok

Français (French)
n. - en bloc

Deutsch (German)
n. - Block

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - συνασπισμός (χωρών κ.λπ.), μπλοκ

Italiano (Italian)
blocco

idioms:

• Eastern bloc    blocco orientale
• formation of a bloc    formazione d'un blocco
• power bloc    blocco di potere

Português (Portuguese)
n. - coligação (f) partidária

idioms:

• Eastern bloc    bloco (m) oriental
• Eastern bloc country    país (m) do bloco oriental
• formation of a bloc    formação (f) de coligação partidária
• power bloc    bloco de resistência

Русский (Russian)
блок

idioms:

• Eastern bloc    восточный блок
• Eastern bloc country    страна восточного блока
• formation of a bloc    создание (политического) блока
• power bloc    союз держав

Español (Spanish)
n. - bloque

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - block, sammanslutning

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
团体, 集团, 联盟

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 團體, 集團, 聯盟

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 단체, 블록, 의원연합

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ブロック, 圏, 議員連合

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كتله, مجموعه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גוש, גוש פוליטי, בלוק‬

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