Party Dominance in Democracy

Abstract

Long-term dominance by a single political party ought not to exist where healthy democratic electoral competition exists. How then to understand and explain those cases where it does? By identifying different faces of democratic dominance, the chapter identifies five cases that stand out as exceptions—the Liberal Party of Canada, Ireland’s Fianna Fáil, the Congress Party of India, Japan’s Liberal Democratic party, and the Christian Democratic Party of Italy. All became their country’s “natural party of government” for long decades. A framework for disciplined parallel cases studies, followed by a set of systematic comparative analyses, outlines the questions and methodological approach the book adopts to unveil the nature and operation of these “Government Parties” as distinctive democratic organizations deeply entwined with the essential nature of the political regimes they control.