Introduction
Maurice Duverger’s law in political science contains plurality rule polls along with the structured and single-member district, which frequently supports the two-party system. In contrast to the two-party system, multipartyism supports and favors the ballot majority system and comparable representation. Maurice has thoroughly researched the effects and implications of such political systems. His investigation compels another scientist to consider those effects as the law or the basic principle for the political system. The researchers and scientists of political science have received a number of influences of the law over the typology of the party system. In the same way, centripetal competition among the parties is the need for politicians to capture the median voters. The existence of the central party provides for the centrifugal party competition. Those parties that are seeking office have to take a centrist course.
Description
The law of the Duverger comes from the proper model of the causality from the electoral to the party system. A comparable or proportional representation provides for the enhancement of the electoral conditions, which ultimately increases the development of many parties. However, the phenomena of the plurality system of the parties lead to the marginalization of small political parties. Such a system resulted in the creation of the two-party system (Raymond, 2015). Those democratic states having a plurality system contain more than two political parties. The United States, in this regard, is focused on two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Other countries like India, Pakistan, Canada, and the United Kingdom operate under multiparty parliamentary systems. Two political analysts, Eric Dickson and Ken Scheve, while countering the Duverger law, hold that the national-level plurality system enhances the concept of the two parties.
However, in individual constituencies, increased majorities often lead to the fluctuation of the votes. Students and scientists of politics are characterizing the systems of the parties until the time they are involved in researching and studying the party system. The type and the number of political parties affect the formation of the government along with the preferences and choices of the voters (Bäck, 2017). They also influence the choices and legislative programs of the executives elected through their respective political party. It is same like that of a blood pressure or the rate of heart beats for how the liberal or authoritarian government allow their parties to contest elections in different countries. The typology of the political parties and their system used in the present times dates back to the decade of nineteen fifty to sixty.
Development of the typologies with the passage of time is not a surprise. In the times of the fifty, the scope of comparative politics widened significantly. The scientist of politics serves their attention towards broader and liberal democracies along with the multiparty system. They have neglected the generalization of the limited knowledge of the democracies operating in France, Britain, and Germany. The majority of these scientists have done excellent work in including the question regarding multipartyism, which significantly fed the political instability. In the same way research on the smaller democracies have broadened and created the new style of thinking.
Among those political scientists, Satori was one of the influential and sensible political thinkers. The typology of the Satori’s in nineteen seventy-six brought development in describing the moderate versus polarised pluralism. He came up with the idea that drawing a line between two-party, one- or multiparty competition is very crude in explaining the differences among the party systems. Those counted parties can easily make differences between the party systems. Satori has also established certain rules in order to inform the practitioners that which party they should count or which they should not. He concluded his phenomena of typology by the numbers, which are meant for the polarization of the party competition. By this, the mechanics of the political system became centrifugal or centripetal.
The ideas and the thoughts propounded by the Satoris have considerable worth. They are useful for the contemporary party system. He has the most lone shelf life, and his political thoughts influence many writers. His work contributed to an important puzzle, which was the instability of the cabinet and the system through the multiparty system of government. He distinguishes the high-polarised system of the parties from other types of multipartyism (Caramani, 2017). The approach of the scientist remains influential in the present times, as he has focused on the party system and the competition among the different political parties to acquire the government. However, regarding the style of distinction, Dahl applied direct distinctions to the formulation of governments. How parties relate to each other is also the concept of Satori. In addressing such issues, he focused on the central facets of party systems.
The central competition among the parties is conventionally associated with influencing and capturing the median voters. The presence of the central parties in the system of two parties often leads to centrifugal party competition. In the same way, the existence of a pivotal party provides competition among centripetal political parties (Colomer, 2002). The central or the overriding party is strong enough to form the majority in electoral terms that creating any powerful group against the party will seem as unrealistic. The power and the force holding the respective party is so high that left and rightist parties through coalition could form a government. This, if done, will be the implosion of the political party system.
The system of electorates, with the extensive magnitude of its districts, provides for the parties to enhance their role in taking extreme policy positions. For example, the National Association of Municipalities, which was a powerful player in politics other than its centralized competitors, has proposed an alliance with the teachers to stop the implications of the famous voucher scheme (Ignazi, 2017). The central party, however, managed to deal with the situation but failed to suppress those people and agitators who had to challenge the policy of the voucher scheme in the Netherlands. Political parties are an important and effective element of democracies. However, the number, refection and the function of each political party have certain variations. Regarding the competition among the centripetal parties, it is said that they are highly persuasive for their power and to influence the thoughts and popularity of their opposing political party.
Satori has also discussed the issues of the competition and characteristics of centripetal political parties in a slightly altered approach. However, the primary motive and the elements of Satori’s explanation of the political system were not the competition among the parties but the directives and goals of a central political party. Quarrels between the parties are often due to the ideological differences and violation of one towards the other. The phenomena of the satori are largely concerned with the polity and the nature of successes that mostly determine the kind of competition. Distinctions and the differences in this regard made by him among the centripetal and the centrifugal drives.
In the centripetal drives, the nature of the competition is to pull towards the center of the political activity. In the second form, the central spectrum became weak because of the movements of voters towards the extreme. Some parties, while taking incentives of the situation, challenge the policies at an extreme level. Describing suck kind of the situation, Satori collaborates ideas with the fragmentations of the parties. Here are the four categories of the political parties being propounded by him are Polarized multi-party, segmented multiparty, two-party and the moderate political party. In many states, it happens that the degree of autonomy ensured through the devolved structures demonstrates the system of centripetal forces and their actions (La Palombara, 2015). The central governments mostly claim that it is enough, however, the regions or the regional political parties often break away the position be arguing against the decisions and policies of the centre.
The common characteristics of the political landscape in the United Kingdom and Spain are the persistence of conservatives those having governments in the centre. Along with the center malaise, political parties and members in the opposition contributed to the same purpose of differences with the central political parties. In the succession of the region, the SNP and the socialist party of Catalonia have a pro-independence stance to which the central parties are not giving considerable attention. Other than the consideration of the politics, the primary factor against the succession and breakaway the relations among the regions within the European Union.
The sophistication of the legal status of those regions that come under breakaway is not an argument propounded by the central political parties to manage the status quo. Other than the problems and issues of the European Union, people in the region are fearful that there is increase rise of nationalistic thoughts among the political parties, which lead to the centripetal competition (Martin, 2018). In the same way, centrifugal thoughts exist in the two states of Europe, Catalonia and Spain. There is a devolved power structure and four assemblies. The Scottish Parliament, the Assembly of Northern Ireland, the Assembly of London, and the Assembly of Wales. The political parties of Scotland can make laws in the so-called devolved power political setup. However, the nationalist parties have the privilege of enjoying the majority rule and playing their decisive role in the political landscape. The National Party of Scotland holds the majority of the power.
The SNP is the third largest European political party with Scotland’s most influential political actor. The party came in two thousand twelve with the winning of around thirty-five percent votes. The Labour Party has thirty-two percent votes with a close margin alongside the SNP. The SNP is consistently arguing for the succession of Scotland for the United Kingdom. The stance and the policy of the SNP reveal that nationalist parties are increasing in the UK. The political atmosphere for independence is enhancing, and the important question is: Who will decide the issues and matters related to Scotland and Catalonia? Central and regional political parties are highly concerned with power and their due role (Rich, 2015). The centrifugal forces are also there to defend the stance of not providing independence to the states attached to the UK. However, with the movement of voters increased towards the SNP political party, the central parties were left with no other option but to give independence to these two states. The centrifugal drivers are active at such time when centre became weak and it has no control the power and extreme level of voters regarding respective stance. Similarly, in any political setup or system, there is a need to count and measure the number of political parties.
The measurement and counting of political parties have a significant influence on political science research. Generally, the measurement and calculation of the number of parties are associated with the prevailing position of economics (Müller, 2003). The economic condition of the state or international economics has a strong influence over the parties operating in any state or region. The grouping and the formation of new political parties became very easy in the twenty-first century. The organized system of networks and the relations through social and digital media have lessened the barriers that hinder the creation of ideological groups. Parties are multiplying in the post-modern era. Citizens are looking for the best groups that can meet and satisfy their needs. They also analyze the parties that can match the beliefs of the people. As an activity, it is not only good but also increases the engagement.
Many states have a system of proportional representation, and those countries are striving for more parties like America and Britain. These countries also have a higher turnout of voters than those of those states that have fewer parties. However, such excessive grouping and parties have serious drawbacks. According to the studies of ‘The Economist,’ with the subdivision of parties, countries become harder to rule. Other than big parties, small groups have loose discipline, which has become a financial burden on the states. Coalition in the excessive parties is also difficult and governing parties try to include those strangers that are not experienced in political and leadership skills. The case of different states reveals how parties should be counted in any political system. In Greece, the far-left Syzira party rules with the coalition of the far-right Independent Greeks party.
In the state of Denmark, the central government requires the support of the liberal alliance, which wants to cut social spending, and other parties want to raise that spending. Increasing parties take time to form a government, and certain distracting politicians create a number of hurdles to information on the rule. These types of oddball pairing cannot have decisive acts and mostly fall before the formulation of the respective governments (Schmitt, 2014). The people always paid the loss enumerated through non-serious alliances of the excessive political parties. Political parties are therefore counted through the population, economic condition, and the power level of the state. Other than counting parties, those parties have a considerable effect on the policies of the state.
The increase or the decreasing number of political parties is affecting the business of the state and the policies directly and indirectly. The most important example in this regard is the state of Spain, which has increased parties from two to four. The increase in the political parties has left Spain with no government for the last two years. The citizens have increased choices regarding votes, but they have to face the year of caretaker setup along with undue expenses. The smaller groups are mostly influenced by seizing the control of policy circles. In Israel, smaller parties like tiny-right-wing parties have written the principles for West Bank settlements. In the state of Brazil, clever politicians form more parties for public subsidies and demand more goodies to form an alliance with the government. Political parties play the role of the intermediaries between the state and the people and making complex policies in a simpler way.
Conclusion
Concluding the detailed discussion, the law of the Duverger provides a two-party system along with the structure of the district that possesses single members. The law favors the political system that contains two-party systems. The writings and the principles of the Duverger have convinced the political scientist to name those rules as the law, which shows the effectiveness and the worth of his work. However, centripetal and centrifugal forces have a significant role in the development and destruction of any political system operating in any state. In the same way, there must be limited and organized political parties which could play an effective and useful role in the progress of the nation. The number of political parties has a considerable effect on the policies of the state.
References
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