Why Are Two Political Parties Dominant in the U.S.? In many countries ethnic minorities formed the basis of nationalist parties, which then either joined existing parties or divided them. In Scandinavia, liberal rural parties developed in the 19th century, reflecting a long tradition of separate representation of the rural population. Other distinctive types of parties emerged in some countries. Communist parties began as splinter groups of socialist parties, and Christian Democratic parties attempted to weld together moderate socialists and conservatives and some liberals. After World War I other categories of parties developed that were partly the result of divisions or transformations of older parties. Each reflects the interests of a particular social class and expounds a particular political ideology. In western Europe, three major categories of parties have developed since the beginning of the 19th century: conservative, liberal, and socialist. But, in fact, the two-party system that operates in Great Britain, the United States, and New Zealand is much rarer than the multiparty system, which is found in almost all of western Europe. In Anglo-Saxon countries there is a tendency to consider the two-party system as normal and the multiparty system as the exceptional case. It is not simply a question of the number of parties that determines the nature of the two-party system many other elements are of importance, the extent of party discipline in particular. Other countries do not fall clearly into either category thus, Austria and Germany only approximate the two-party system. This is the case with regard to the Liberal Party in Great Britain, for example. In any two-party system there are invariably small parties in addition to the two major parties, and there is always the possibility that a third, small party prevents one of the two main parties from gaining a majority of seats in the legislature. The distinction between two-party and multiparty systems is not as easily made as it might appear. And even within a two-party or a multiparty system, debate may become so stymied and a particular coalition of interests so entrenched that the democratic process is seriously compromised. This broad statement is, however, subject to qualification, for, although single parties do not usually permit the expression of points of view that are fundamentally opposed to the party line or ideology, there may well be intense conflict within these limits over policy within the party itself. Single parties usually operate in situations in which genuine political conflict is not tolerated. Two-party and multiparty systems represent means of organizing political conflict within pluralistic societies and are thus part of the apparatus of democracy. Such a classification is based not merely on the number of parties operating within a particular country but on a variety of distinctive features that the three systems exhibit. Party systems may be broken down into three broad categories: two-party, multiparty, and single-party. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.
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