It is true that in RDA "government" and "jurisdiction" are used almost interchangeably in the sense of Gebietskoerperschaft, but perhaps with subtle differences. That paragraph in 11.2.2.5.4 gives an idea of what is meant by government, but it uses "jurisdiction" in another sense, which the German translation gives as "Justizhoheit." (Might "Rechtshoheit" be an equally good or better term?)
In the last paragraph of 11.7.1.5, I think the use of "government" is closer to "Regierung" in the phrase "If two or more governments claim jurisdiction over the same area (e.g., as with occupying powers and insurgent governments) ..." The use of "jurisdiction" in RDA is by no means restricted to designating a larger place or government. IFLA's Statement of International Cataloguing Principles (http://www.ifla.org/publications/statement-of-international-cataloguing-principles) uses the phrase "jurisdiction or territorial authority." (Official German translation: "Jurisdiktion [!] oder einer Gebietskoerperschaft") I don't know for sure, but I suspect "territorial authority" was added for clarity. It means about the same as jurisdiction. It certainly does not refer to certain specific kinds of jurisdictions such as the Yukon Territory or Northern Territory. ------------------------------------------ John Hostage Senior Continuing Resources Cataloger Harvard Library--Information and Technical Services Langdell Hall 194 Harvard Law School Library Cambridge, MA 02138 host...@law.harvard.edu +(1)(617) 495-3974 (voice) +(1)(617) 496-4409 (fax) ________________________________________ That confirms my suspicion that in many (though not all) cases, the best solution for the German version of RDA would be to translate both "government" and "jurisdiction" with the same German term "Gebietskoerperschaft". At present, the German translation uses "Regierung" for "government", which is rather odd, because - as Verena has already pointed out - the German "Regierung" has a narrow meaning only. It can refer either to the process of governing something, or (more commonly) to the people who make up the administration of a country, federal state a.s.o.. So, when reading e.g. 11.2.2.5.4 in the German translation, people would believe that the preferred name of Frau Merkel and her ministers is "Germany" ;-)
