the term third party is used in us politics for a significant party outside the two dominant parties.
the term third party is used in us politics for a significant party outside the two dominant parties.
which term is used in us politics for a significant party outside the two dominant parties?
third party
the second definition is derived from the use of the phrase in american parlance, referring to a federal or provincial political party that is not usually considered to have a realistic chance of forming a government but has seats in the federal house of commons or a provincial or territorial legislature. a significant difference between canadian and american usage of the term is that, in the united states, a third party describes any party besides the dominant democratic and republican parties regardless of their relative position; while in the canadian context (and for the purposes of this article), it more commonly refers to the largest party that does not form the government or official opposition. while both the congressional and westminster parliamentary systems tend to reward two dominant parties or blocs, the ability in the latter for third parties to compete and affect the outcome of elections is a major point of differentiation for canadian political culture and history from american counterparts. the efficacy of these third parties in canadian politics often depends on whether they qualify for official party status and are thus entitled to play a formal role in the legislative process. since the house of commons standing orders were amended in 1963 to recognize smaller parties, the third-largest party has always met the criteria for status. however, other legislatures in canada have different standards, and this is not always the case.
third party (canada)
one of the dangers of dominant parties is "the tendency of dominant parties to conflate party and state and to appoint party officials to senior positions irrespective of their having the required qualities." however, in some countries this is common practice even when there is no dominant party. in contrast to one-party systems, dominant-party systems can occur within a context of a democratic system. in a one-party system other parties are banned, but in dominant-party systems other political parties are tolerated, and (in democratic dominant-party systems) operate without overt legal impediment, but do not have a realistic chance of winning; the dominant party genuinely wins the votes of the vast majority of voters every time (or, in authoritarian systems, claims to). under authoritarian dominant-party systems, which may be referred to as "electoralism" or "soft authoritarianism", opposition parties are legally allowed to operate, but are too weak or ineffective to seriously challenge power, perhaps through various forms of corruption, constitutional quirks that intentionally undermine the ability for an effective opposition to thrive, institutional and/or organizational conventions that support the status quo, occasional but not omnipresent political repression, or inherent cultural values averse to change.
dominant-party system