Dominant Party Systems

where is the notion ‘party system’ drawn from

the study of democratic countries

name the type of party systems

• dominant-party system

• two-party system

• multi-party system 

• non-partisan system

dominant party system

one party secures election victories over two decades or more and dominates political agenda

two party system 

two parties rotate in office 

multi-party system

three or more major political parties can win office individually or in coalition

non-partisan system

elections are not determined by competition between parties

what are other variations of defining one party dominant system

• the capacity to attract support from substantial electorates over an extended period

• the presence of a unifying historical project

• the ability to dominate the policy agenda of a country

how does Duverger define dominant party

• he identifies it with an epoch

• ideas dominating public debate and its dominant position acknowledged by citizens and elites alike

how does dominant parties interestingly enough overlap with electoral autocracy/hybrid regimes

• elections occur

• repression is mostly soft

• no crude outcome-changing rigging

• only a few journalists are killed or jailed

• sometimes voters just keep choosing the same party democratically

how is ANC an example of a dominant party 

during the democratic era for South Africa, ANC has continuosly secured clear majority votes 

how is ANC as a dominant party considered a historical project

• it conceives itself as a national liberation movement that represents a project that transcends class, region and race

• articulates a strategic vision in the form of a ‘national democratic revolution’

what are the consequences of one party dominance (OPD)

tendency of dominant parties to conflate party and state

appoint inappropriate party officials to senior state positions

opposition party legitimacy undermined

according to Butler, what are the negative consequences of OPD

• incumbency advantages

• delegitimise or co-opt opposition

• blurring of party-state boundaries (deployment)

• media interference

• crushing legitimate opposition within party

according to Butler, what are the negative consequences of OPD

• stability

• internal pluralism/rotation and externalised factions

• curtail violent, racial and ethnic politics

• hard decisions

how ANC dominance caused growing harm in South Africa

• state-party integration

• patronage politics

• opposition delegitimation

• abuse of incumbency