Particracy

Not to be confused with Patriarchy.

Particracy or Rule of the Parties is a government system in which political power is concentrated within the bureaucratic machines of political parties. The term is usually a pejorative against representative democracies in which the representatives are not seen as actually representing their constituents but rather the interests of the political parties they belong to.

Although advocacy for a particracy could be seen as being something one could unironically advocate for, in the form of a one-party state (vanguardism).

Conceptions

One-Party States

One way in which particracy has been historically implemented is in the form of a One-Party State. This is also the only form of particracy that is likely to be sincerely advocated for. One-party states are states governed by one major political party, and all other parties are either banned or hold little power. While one-party states have been led by parties of many different ideologies, some of the most common examples are countries led by Marxist-Leninist (such as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of China, and the Communist Party of Cuba), Ba'athist (such as the * and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Syria) or fascist (such as the Nazi Party of Germany, the National Fascist Party of Italy, and the Fatherland Front Party of Austria) parties.

First-Past-the-Post Elections

Another way in which particracy has been historically and still currently implemented is in the form of First-Past-the-Post Elections. First-past-the-post elections almost always result in systems where two parties (usually one broadly left-leaning and one broadly right-leaning) dominate the political landscape, with power shifting back and forth between both. While other parties often hold some seats in the legislature, they are unlikely to be a significant enough bloc, with coalition governments being rare. Countries like the United States are extreme examples where third party or independent representatives are almost non-existent in both the federal and state legislatures. This has been attributed to Duverger's law, where due to being a plurality based system, high amounts of tactical voting will result in most people only voting for one of the two parties. This has resulted in both parties having different ideological factions in the hopes of somewhat increasing political diversity and to have a more broad appeal. Many countries with theoretically democratic elections, especially in the English speaking world, run first-past-the-post legislative elections.

Semi-Authoritarian Democracy (dominant party system)

A dominant-party system is when one party dominates politics for a long time. It can be seen as a weaker, informal version of the one-party state, however, the systems they operate in are still nominally democratic and the party can be replaced, but it is usually very hard. Examples include People's Action Party of Singapore, Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico, FIDESZ, and Law and Justice Party.

Partitocrazia

How to Draw

Draw a ball.
Fill it with white.
Draw the symbol shown on the flag below, which is a half ring alternating between green, red, yellow, blue and black.
Draw in the eyes.

You're done!

Relations

Friends

Republicanism - Thanks for creating a platform for me!
Ingsoc - THE PARTY WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU-
Parliamentarianism - Your Westminster form especially is pretty based.

Frenemies

Democracy - You can be based sometimes but your direct democracy form is ultra cringe.
Helvetic Model - You still have parties and all, but what the hell is that "popular initiative" shit?