Single-party state

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States in which a single party is constitutionally linked to power are coloured in brown. Other states can also be classified as single-party on account of other legal or coercive obstacles.
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States in which a single party is constitutionally linked to power are coloured in brown. Other states can also be classified as single-party on account of other legal or coercive obstacles.
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A single-party state or one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election. In most cases, parties other than the one in power are banned, although some systems guarantee a majority for one favored party that ensures the impotence of any parties relegated by law or practice (including rigged elections) to a permanent status as a miniscule and impotent minority. Even if some debate appears in the parliament, real power ordinarily lies in the unelected leadership of the dominant Party, as was the norm in the former German Democratic Republic.

Although other political parties are sometimes allowed under a single-party system, these other parties must subordinate themselves to the dominant party and cannot function as an opposition. Also, some one-party states may allow non-party members to run for legislative seats, as was the case with Taiwan's Tangwai movement in the 1970s and 1980s.

A one-party system should not be confused with a dominant-party system in which an opposition is not officially prohibited, but it is largely ineffective (has no realistic chance of becoming the government), nor should it be confused with a non-partisan democracy which prohibits all political parties.

In most cases, single-party states have arisen from fascist, socialist, or nationalist ideologies, particularly in the wake of independence from colonial rule. One-party systems often arise from decolonization because one party has had an overwhelmingly dominant role in liberation or in independence struggles.

Where the ruling party subscribes to a form of Marxism-Leninism, the one-party state system is usually called a Socialist republic. Such nations are also described as Communist states, though they do not use that term to describe themselves. In socialist republics such as Cuba, the role of the Communist Party is enshrined in the consitution, and no party is permitted to campaign or run candidates for election, including the Communist party. Candidates are elected on an individual referendum basis without formal party involvement, though elected assemblies predominantly consist of members of the dominant party alongside non-affiliated candidates.[1]

Contents

[edit] Examples

[edit] Constitutionally-defined single party states

The following list includes the countries that are legally constituted as single-party states as of 2006 and the name of the single party in power:

[edit] Effective single-party states today

Various legal or military measures make these effectively (de facto) single-party states as of 2006:

[edit] Former single-party states

Examples include:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Cuba: Elections and Events 1991-2001 Latin American Election Statistics Home
  2. ^ The Burmese / Myanmar military, which has ruled the country since 1988, created a "National Unity Party" to give the régime a civilian façade. An election held in 1990 was nullified. The legal status of the winner of that election, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is in flux.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Forms of Government and Methods of Rule: Autocratic and Authoritarian

Autocratic: Despotism | Dictatorship | Tyranny | Absolute monarchy (Caliphate | Despotate | Emirate | Empire | Imamate | Khanate | Sultanate | Other monarchical titles) | Enlightened absolutism

Other Authoritarian: Military dictatorship (often a Junta) | Oligarchy | Single-party state (Communist state | Fascist(oid) state (e.g. Nazi Germany)) | de facto: Illiberal democracy
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