The Dominant Party System: A Neglected Model of Democratic Stability

Abstract

POLITICAL PARTIES have long been central to the field of political science. As the most common linkage between the formal governmental structure and the social world, parties are a natural focus for students of political institutions, political behavior, political psychology, and political theory. The variety of the literature on parties reflects their multifaceted nature and the range of questions that can be asked about them. Although the taxonomic is one of the least rewarding approaches to the study of parties, much of the analysis existing in the literature reflects our concern with the differences between one, two, and multi-party systems. Underlying this concern is the realization that the number of parties has significance. The party is a major link between political elites and the mass and an important instrument of governing in most political systems, but the ways in which these functions are performed vary widely. The number of parties in a system and the ways in which they relate to one another are associated with radically different styles of politics. The dominant party system is sometimes recognized as having a separate identity, though more often than not it is seen as a particular mutant of one of the other systems that results from idiosyncratic features of a specific historical tradition. It is our contention that the dominant party system is sui generis. It should not be con-