Reform

{{Short description|Improvement of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory}}

{{Other uses}}

Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc.{{cite web |title=Reform |publisher=Dictionary.com |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reform?s=t |access-date=2023-02-16}} The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which identified "Parliamentary Reform" as its primary aim.{{cite book |editor-last1=Burns |editor-first1=Arthur |editor-last2=Innes |editor-first2=Joanna |title=Rethinking the Age of Reform: Britain 1780–1850 |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter='Reform' in English public life: the fortunes of a word |last=Innes |first=Joanna |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/rethinking-the-age-of-reform/reform-in-english-public-life-the-fortunes-of-a-word/C091F0BFAFFF55B5D9112AC691182A83 |pages=71–97 |isbn=978-0521823944}} Reform is generally regarded as antithetical to revolution.

Developing countries may implement a range of reforms to improve living standards, often with support from international financial institutions and aid agencies. This can involve reforms to macroeconomic policy, the civil service, and public financial management.

In politics, there is debate over what constitutes reform vs. revolution, and whether all changes labeled "reform" actually represent progress.{{cite magazine |last=Gage |first=Beverly |title=When 'Reform' Means a Process of Elimination |date=February 13, 2018 |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/magazine/when-reform-means-a-process-of-elimination.html}} For example, in the United States, proponents of term limits or rotation in office consider it a revolutionary method (advocated as early as the Articles of Confederation) for rooting out government corruption{{cite web |title=Term Limits: Overview |last1=Gutierrez |first1=Michael |last2=Walter |first2=Andrew |date=2024 |publisher=EBSCO |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/term-limits-overview}} by altering basic political connections between incumbents and constituents.{{notetag|1=On term limits reform, see [https://www.termlimits.com/ U.S. Term Limits]. On more radical/revolutionary changes, including term limits, see, e.g., Robert Struble Jr., Treatise on Twelve Lights: To Restore America the Beautiful under God and the Written Constitution, 2007–08 edition.}} Opponents say that congressional term limits can create perverse incentives, and hinder reform, by taking power away from voters and encouraging "revolving door" politics.{{cite web |last=Burgat |first=Casey |title=Five reasons to oppose congressional term limits |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/five-reasons-to-oppose-congressional-term-limits/ |date=January 18, 2018 |publisher=Brookings}}{{cite web |last=Fowler |first=Anthony |title=Term Limits |publisher=University of Chicago{{Snd}}Center for Effective Government |date=January 25, 2024 |url=https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/term-limits}}

A government's ability to implement reforms, referred to as its state capacity, is constrained by the prevailing political system.{{cite book |last=Lindvall |first=Johannes |title=Reform Capacity |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |pages=120-121 |isbn=978-0198766865}}