Talk:Two-party system

South Korea

Note: comment copied from my talk page -- The National Assembly of South Korea regularly elects more than two parties but only two parties (Saenuri Party and Democratic Party) have sufficient influence about South Korean politics. Other parties do not have sufficient influence about South Korean politics and only have 11 seats in the National Assembly. So South Korea has a two-party system. --117.53.77.30 (talk) 16:50, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Many sources indicate South Korea has a multi-party system. Parties other than the top two win seats in the legislature; in contrast, to be a two-party system, candidates from other parties do not win any seats in the legislature, generally, and since this does not happen in South Korea, sources suggest it is a multi-party system. Even the first line of the wikipedia article List of political parties in South Korea says it is a multi-party system.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 19:16, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

User 117.53.77.30: your definition of two-party system is too broad. If simply having 1st and 2nd largest parties qualifies, then many more countries should be added, and the term loses its meaning.

Assuming that you're treating multi-party and two-party as distinct systems, a proper two-party politics is when the twin dominant parties and the political structure are actually hampering multiparty pluralism. Like winner-take-all and single-member plurality elections that make it very unlikely for third parties in the United States to get a single member in Congress. And many times, voters and officials act as if other parties do not exist. This happens even among independents like Bernie Sanders.

Smaller parties in South Korea, on the other hand, do get attention and have real political support from voters that elect them. Did you see how much of a ruckus Lee Seok-ki made a month ago? Abstractematics (talk) 19:33, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

What about the UK? In which, the Liberal Democrats have 55 seats in the House of Commons and 89 seats in the House of Lords, but the UK is an important example of two party system.--117.53.77.30 (talk) 05:30, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

As the article points out, the term "two-party system" is imprecise. It can mean different things to different people. I doubt there is a consensus view among experts (political scientists) about what it means. If the term is strictly defined (ie only two parties which can elect representatives, such as US, Malta) then the UK is really a multi-party system since parties other than the top two can get their representatives in Parliament. However, some consider the UK as a two-party system because the two largest parties exert more influence than their numbers would suggest, that is, the top two parties get, say, 80% of the vote, but 90% of the seats. On that basis, one could argue possibly that it is a two-party system, on the basis of control or perceived power. If the situation is similar in South Korea, that is, two parties exerting substantial control or having power beyond their vote percentages, then maybe we could make a case that SK was two-party on that basis, similar to the UK. Still, I see there is a big difference between US-style two party systems (a Congress of almost all Republicans and Democrats; third parties unable to elect representatives at any level of govt) versus UK-style or SK-style parliamentary systems, in which new parties can come along and win seats in the legislature -- personally, my sense is both UK and SK are multi-party systems, but I realize there are those who consider them both two-party.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 12:04, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

History section

A history section for the background of how the two-party political system emerged. I don't see how that is off topic, and the references are all to reputable sites and books.Noodleki (talk) 22:12, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

It was well written but my concerns were that it focused mostly on Great Britain which is not squarely in the "two-party system" camp, since there are more than two parties represented in the British Parliament; further, it focused on early periods of particular parties in the UK and somewhat in the US, with not much focus on why this happened. The sources were hard to check -- a link to a book site, etc. My sense it there could be some original research involved. I did not believe the first sentence -- The two-party system began with the division in English politics at the time of the Civil War and Glorious Revolution in the late 17th century; the first five references in the addition were hard to check since they lacked inline citations. Two paragraphs were unreferenced. Generally the content did not address, specifically, the two party system -- rather, it was about historical developments regarding various political parties, their ideologies and such. The Kelley book had a link only to the book on Google; I could not check what specific passages were mentioned. There is a link to a blog -- Jesse Norman. Another "reference" was a link to a term paper. The reference about the book about Gladstone and Disraeli -- just a link to a book on Google. Washington's last address is somewhat of a primary source. I did not see a mention to the Miniccuci (sp) source mentioning the word "party". The Chambers book might be somewhat useful, but again it is hard to check. This is a lot of material, none of which really focuses on what this article is about -- the Two-party system, but it is well written and perhaps could be added somewhere else in Wikipedia, such as a history of political parties in the UK and US.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 00:18, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

I personally think the added content could have a place in the article, if it de-emphasized UK and US and it was trimmed down in length. It could focus on history of the development of two-party politics in various countries, rather than on the concept of two-party system. Though, maybe it's better to intermingle with the examples section. Abstractematics (talk) 00:22, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

I would consent to content with checkable references with the words "two party system" or a close variant fairly prominent in the reference, which adds to knowledge about what a two party system is. My problem with the content added before was the subject was about the history of different parties, about how they formed, who led them, what they stood for, and such -- for me, this is really a separate subject entirely. I see the two-party system subject as a structural issue in political science, a result of constitutional choices with specific voting arrangements being at the core of what happens, and that the history of political parties as a tangent here.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 00:47, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

There's no original research at all, and the reason why UK is featured is because that's where the first two party system developed. See here and the history, here. There's also a book written on it - Emergence Of The British Two-Party System 1760-1832, and a historiography list on page 27 of the book Sources and Debates in Modern British History: 1714 to the Present dealing with the issue. I'm open to trimming the section of details of particular parties, although I think it's important as it provides background for understanding what these parties were arguing about.Noodleki (talk) 12:27, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

The concept of original research can take time to learn; from my own experience at Wikipedia, I did not get it for perhaps the first year or two of my contributions until an admin took time out to really explain it to me. I had added an article on a topic with many references, making point after point, and I pointed to the references to indicate that it was not my research, but those of others. Problem was, the entire synthesis was my synthesis, that is, by putting all these referenced non-OR facts together, I was indeed creating original research; once I understood this, I got why my article had to be deleted. And that is what is going on with the addition. The first sentence of the addition is this: The two-party system began with the division in English politics at the time of the Civil War and Glorious Revolution in the late 17th century -- but we have one writer here, who sees the two-party system using the more open sense of the term (ie TPS => two dominant parties, but other parties can elect members, and form coalitions, etc) rather than the American sense of the term (ie TPS => only two parties really elect representatives, others don't get seats in legislature), and then this writer argues that the British TPS began in the late 17th century. The next line: The Whigs supported Protestant constitutional monarchy against absolute rule and the Tories, originating in the Royalist (or "Cavalier") faction of the English Civil War, were conservative royalist supporters of a strong monarchy as a counterbalance to the republican tendencies of Parliament -- this may be true, but how is this relevant to the TPS? Isn't this about the history of parties in Britain, or the history of the Whig Party there? Let's go on: The Whigs were the dominant political faction for most of the first half of the 18th century; they supported the Hanoverian succession of 1715 against the Jacobite supporters of the deposed Roman Catholic Stuart dynasty and were able to purge Tory politicians from important government positions after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742; his protégé was Henry Pelham (1743–54) -- probably true, somewhat interesting, but how is this relevant to TPS? The original research is that the topic TPS includes a history of political parties in the UK. I do not see how this information is helpful to understanding TPS.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 13:03, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Next, about the question of what is a two-party system (TPS). Maybe the lede para should be redone to mention both senses of the term -- the stricter sense (ie only 2 parties get reps into legislature) versus the looser sense (ie 2 dominant parties but others get reps into legislature), and maybe say that both terms have been used.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 13:03, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

About the sources here and here -- what are they? It looks like a professors website. I do not see an author's name, a date, any evidence of it being a reliable source.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 13:03, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

I provided you with an entire book on the subject and a link to a list of scholarly works on precisely this issue, see also Party Ideology and Popular Politics at the Accession of George III p. 39 and Peers, Politics and Power: House of Lords, 1603-1911 p. 76. This isn't a mysterious theory that I dreamed up, it is a generally established fact that the two party system of government originated with the Whigs and Tories. There's no controversy apart from debate on how clear cut party divisions were in the 18th century. As I said before, I am willing to trim some of the detail, but it is clearly important to explain what the basic differences between the two parties were. I don't understand what you're saying about differences in definition. There are plenty of 3rd parties in the US as well as the UK - a tps is just a system dominated by two large parties.Noodleki (talk) 20:30, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

The two google book references are about the history of party politics in the UK. I did not see any mention of "two party system" or analysis that the UK had a two-party system, what this meant, when it happened, etc. I looked on page 76 of the second book -- I did not see anything related to this topic.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 04:05, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

What about the title The Emergence Of The British Two-Party System 1760-1832" is causing difficulty? In "Peers, Politics and Power" TPS is clearly mentioned on 3rd para on p.77 and in " Party Ideology and Popular Politics" the whole chapter, if you had read it, is about the degree to which a TPS was formally in place, with a range of interpretation from Namier to Trevelyan on the subject. Its also arithmetic; Whig (1) + Tory (1) = 2 Parties.Noodleki (talk) 16:49, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Can you send a link? I tried searching but what I found was hidden behind paywalls. I think we could add something along these lines; my concern is several pages of text which to me are really about the history of political parties in the UK. Please keep in mind about differing senses of the term "two party system". In the UK, more than 2 parties are feasible electorally, but since two are seen as dominant, it was called TPS. At least we would have to qualify it, saying the second sense of TPS (>2 parties but 2 dominant) may have originated in Britain with Whigs and Tories. For someone with the US-sense (only 2 parties feasible electorally), saying TPS began in Britain appears incorrect.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 22:13, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

About whether UK is Two party system or Multi-party system

On the page Politics of the United Kingdom, the second paragraph says it is a multi-party system, but I am seeking views of other knowledgeable Wikipedians.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 23:02, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Noting one UK Wikipedian believes the UK has a two-party system here.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 01:02, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

Copying a comment from a user on the Talk:Politics of the United Kingdom page:--Tomwsulcer (talk) 10:20, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

The Conservatives and Labour are the two most dominant party in parliament. Until the last election, these parties formed government alone for the last half century. The Lib Dims are a smaller party (but not a minor one) and are currently king-makers in a coalition government. Scotland, Wales and (particularly) Northern Ireland have their own parties, which are present in the Westminister parliament. Minor parties are also represented in the Westminister parliament (e.g. UKIP and the Greens). So, no, the UK is not two-party system. It is a multi-party system. --Tóraí (talk) 00:10, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

I am listening to a Teaching Company lecture on history of conservatism by scholar Patrick Allitt who said, surprisingly to me, that both the US and UK had two-party systems in the sense that with the UK, if party Z won 20% of the vote, it would get less than 20% of the seats -- he was referring to the UK in the mid 20th century, which confirms a sentence in the lede, although my own view is the US is more of a two-party system in the sense that practically no seats get won by 3rd party candidates.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 00:20, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The UK may have multiple parties but it is only two parties who ever lead it. The Conservatives and Labour (and before them Conservatives and Liberals). Even the last coalition was effectively a Tory govt. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.80.255.163 (talk) 11:06, 4 August 2017 (UTC)

Prisoner's dilemma?

Could the two party system (or at least, the effects of it) be considered a variant of the prisoner's dilemma? I.E., if everyone voted for a third party who they actually preferred then hypothetically the trap could be broken, but third party votes will always remain a very small minority (even if, ideally, a majority would prefer one of the third parties) due to the urge to vote for the "lesser of two evils", and the desire to not waste a vote? At the very least, is the prisoner's dilemma relevant enough to add to the "See also" section? Xmoogle (talk) 01:28, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

P.S. for sources, [1], [2] and [3] seem relevant from the point of view of the electorate being the prisoners, and [4] seems relevant from the point of view of the two parties being the prisoners. Xmoogle (talk) 01:55, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Bilateral symmetry, evolution similarities

I would like to see inclusion of research that has been done on the similarity between the biological evolution of bilateral symmetry from a gob of protoplasm compared to how a two-party system naturally emerges from plurality/winner-take-all voting, per "Duverger's law". In both processes, there is a literal split that forms into a left and a right.--Chris from Houston (talk) 07:21, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Links to democracy

Why isn't anything mentioned here? How is that small parties in the US have no chances at all? Everytime it comes down to the two biggest parties wasting a bunch of money on their election campaigns instead of using it to help people. Moreover, "the winner takes it all" doesn't make sense at all, it just distorts the results. --2.245.79.113 (talk) 19:57, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Australian politics

If in Australia there are not two technical parties but rather two major political groupings, well the article should indicate this (within the body of the text) and let's leave it as a reference note in the lede sentence -- the reason being that there are two major types of two-party systems (as the article explains) -- the strict type (US, Jamaica, Malta) in which there are no third party legislators (a HUGE FLAW in US politics imho) and much more sensible looser systems such as Britain and Australia, in which there tend to be two dominant major parties, but in which other parties can get candidates elected to office. I'd much rather be a citizen of Australia or New Zealand. But getting back to the point, the change in wording is not substantial enough to merit inclusion in the lede sentence; if one wishes, maybe an article about two-party coalitions in Australian politics can be floated.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 21:11, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Ireland

Despite coalitions and additional representation, politics in the ROI is a stitch up between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil which are little different and have held power for decades. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.80.255.163 (talk) 11:04, 4 August 2017 (UTC)

United States

The two-party system in the United States is the only such system where other parties are virtually absent from national politics which makes them a unique oddity in the democratic world. Because of this, I think it should have its own article. Charles Essie (talk) 21:00, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

• I support this, if all the necessary sources and information can be gathered, I'm all for it. Noam Chomsky had some very noteworthy views of the United States' "two-party" system that would be important in a new page for the subject. Temeku (talk) 01:16, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

• I support this too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lovin'Politics (talk • contribs) 09:08, 2 February 2021 (UTC)

• Support, I am sure that there are many case studies about the nature of the Duopoly of political power in the United States. PyroFloe (talk) 17:37, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

• I support this too. Good reasoning. Prodrummer619 (talk) 18:29, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

• I oppose this on the grounds that we already have a main article for that section: Political parties in the United States. Two-party system in the United States should redirect to that article. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 01:33, 22 July 2022 (UTC)

  There's more info about it here so unless you plan to merge the content on this page over there it would make no sense to change the redirect. Charles Essie (talk) 16:14, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

• I oppose this on grounds that the US is NOT the only strictly-two-party system in the world. Jamaica, Belize, and Trinidad and Tobago all have no third parties in their legislatures. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Caleb M1 (talk • contribs) 14:09, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

  That's because those are small countries with small legislatures. What makes the United States a unique case is that it has a two-party duopoly in spite of its size and diversity. Charles Essie (talk) 16:29, 26 July 2023 (UTC)

• Support It's surprising that such an article doesn't exist yet. The two party system of the US is pretty well-known and covered by multiple media and publications. It deserves its own article. PadFoot2008 (talk) 05:39, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

Support America's two party system is unique in it's corporate duopoly. As third parties don't stand a chance compared to other countries with a parliamentary system. This alone can be a basis for an article. Rager7 (talk) 17:22, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

"One-party state 2.0" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect One-party state 2.0. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 June 7#One-party state 2.0 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. dudhhr_Contribs 17:58, 7 June 2021 (UTC)