actionforum@comcast.net wrote
I've read the proposed introductions to the capitalism article most have seemed good faith attempts to capture the various nuances.
Generalising from a couple of cases (republic, capitalism) is not much better than generalising from a single example. But perhaps the area of political science (plus socio-economic whatever) is particularly subject to this sort of definitional snarl. Anyway, 'definition of capitalism' sounds like an essay topic to me.
Charles