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Concept
One-party state
Summary
A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties are either outlawed or only enjoy limited and controlled participation in elections. Sometimes the term "de facto one-party state" is used to describe a dominant-party system that, unlike the one-party state, allows (at least nominally) democratic multiparty elections, but the existing practices or balance of political power effectively prevent the opposition from winning power.
Although it is predated by the 1714 to 1783 "age of the Whig oligarchy" in Great Britain, the rule of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) over the Ottoman Empire following the 1913 coup d'état is often considered the first one-party state.
As of the following countries are legally constituted as one-party states:
One-party states justify themselves through various methods. Most often, proponents of a one-party state argue that the existence of separate parties runs counter to national unity. Others argue that the one party is the vanguard of the people, being its most politically aware members, and therefore the party's right to rule cannot be legitimately questioned. The Soviet government argued that the existence of multiple political parties would perpetuate class struggle, so only a single party could lead a classless proletariat; it therefore made the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the only authorised political party.
Conversely, Russian historian Vadim Rogovin attributed the establishment of the one-party system to the conditions which were “imposed on Bolshevism by hostile political forces”. Rogovin highlighted the fact that the Bolsheviks made strenuous efforts to preserve the Soviet parties such as the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and other left parties within the bounds of Soviet legality and their participation in the Soviets on the condition of abandoning armed struggle against the Bolsheviks.
Official source
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