Have there been any studies or theories why, around the world, even in multiparty parliamentary democracies, the left/right axis has emerged as the dominant one?
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I suspect that the real phenomenon is just that it tends to be bicameral. The “left” / “right” labels are just applied to the sides.
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Hmm what other bindings can exist? Do you mean like Protestant vs Catholic in early modern Europe?
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That’s interesting, but I mean that any political system that allows dissent/argument will tend to group bicamerally. We just apply “left” and “right” labels, but those labels have very little real meaning outside of the specific historical context.
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A stable-ish 3-part pattern is left + right + large independence movement (eg Quebec separatism back home in 🇨🇦)
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I see. I thought you were asking why “left” / “right” — as in “liberal” v “conservative” — recurs. You’re asking why it tends toward bicameralism. That is only true in political systems dominated by winner-take-all dynamics (like USA)
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Try Downs, An Economic Theroy of Democracy. There’s some interesting early game theory there.
Because 50.1% rules the roost?
If you could control the government with 33.1%, maybe we'd have 3 parties.
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