Affirmative action

Definition. A set of measures intended to reduce or remedy the continuing effects of discrimination or exclusion previously experienced by particular groups.

Key points. The forms taken by affirmative action vary between countries and between the areas concerned. Such measures may operate, in particular, in employment, education, access to certain public responsibilities, public procurement or economic policy.

The principle is based on taking into account inequalities inherited from past or present discrimination. The means employed and the conditions governing their legality depend on each country's constitutional and legal order.

Policies of this kind may give rise to controversy over their beneficiaries, duration, criteria or effects on people who do not benefit from them. A policy presented as remedial by its proponents may therefore be described as discriminatory by its opponents.

The classification cannot be separated from the applicable law. A measure lawfully permitted in one state may be assessed differently by another state without that external assessment, in itself, altering its validity within the legal order in which it applies.

Related concepts. Legislative sovereignty · Extraterritoriality · Targeted sanction