par|tic|u|lar|ism

par|tic|u|lar|ism «puhr TIHK yuh luh _RIHZ uhm», noun.

1. exclusive attention or devotion to one's particular party, sect, nation, or other group: »

Patriotism and the sense of political unity are not at the root of local particularism, they merely grow out of it and crown it (Atlantic).

2. the principle of letting each state of a federation keep its own laws and promote its own interests.

3. Theology. the doctrine, especially in Calvinism, that only those who have been individually predestined to it may achieve salvation.