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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IMO: Apart from separatism (which is kind of a rejection of the game itself), seems like the third player typically benefits more from throwing their weight behind one of the two sides and sharing the victory than competing for 2nd place. And this goes all the way down
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I’m Canada that’s looked like the separatists holding the balance of power in minority’s governments a few times, and they’ve aligned with both left and right
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