Is ‘Deep State’ just a less sinister name for ‘Shadow Government’, or are they two different entities?
More sinister, actually. The party out of power in England has their own unofficial “shadow government” to make speeches, write newspaper articles, etc. opposing the real government.
“The Deep State” is not a small collection of politicians as Britian’s “shadow government” is. It’s the 99% of the federal government (FBI, CIA, VA, SSA are just a few examples) that are not elected or appointed and continue regardless of who just got elected as President, think tanks, lobbyists, much of the military, etc.
“The Deep State” writes 1000-plus-page bills that may sit on shelves for years before being magically presented at a moment’s notice (Obamacare, TARP), where the blizzard of non-Congressional regulations are formulated, lobbied for, and implemented, where the policies and procedures for militarizing the police are hatched and nurtured, etc.