One Party Rule

Legitimacy and Consequences of One-Party Rule

One-party rule is an idea generally associated with autocracy, communism, or despotism; however, some modern democracies have functioned under a single party or leader for decades. This phenomenon tends to arise in nations with a long history of colonialism or dictatorship, in which the vast separation between the elite class and the working or peasant class eventually leads to uprising or revolt. Japan, Mexico and Russia all come from deep-seated theories of feudalism and class separation, and each underwent a significant period of political and social. They all enjoyed periods of relative economic and political stabilty under the unifying power of a single authoritarian leader during times of difficult transition. However, this system also allows for greater manipulation and corrupt within the goverment. The dominant parties of Japan, Mexico, and Russia have all legitimized long periods of single-party rule by maintaining electoral processes that preserve a semblance of democracy, contribting to economic growth and increasing political stability; but in each case, problems with political corruption led to autocratic one-party systems with little room for competition or growth.

The rise of the one-party systems in CHina, Mexico and Russia can be attributed to class separation, history of oppression, and political turbulence during a period of change. Each has a history of a divided class system and authoritarian rule, which, when deeply embedded in national identity, discourages the continuation of democracy. Japan has one of the world's oldest monarchies, Mexico was a Spanish colony for three hundred years, and Russia experienced long periods of Tsarist patrimonial rule . Each nation's dominant party developed during a time of revolution or transition out of these autocratic systems, when political stability was more important than the ideal of democracy. For example, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled since the mid-1950's, arose from a fusion of the Liberal and Democratic parties as a response to the failures of World War I and severe economic recession . China's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) evolved as a nonviolent- albeit corrupt- response to increasing political violence between bureaucrats and clergy . Russia spent many years under the oppressive Marxist-Leninist communist system before gradually becoming more democratic. Each of these deeply rooted systems of oppression contributes to the nations' difficulties in maintaining democracy and encouraging multi-party government.

A notable aspect of single-party domination in these countries is that, despite the authoritarian nature of their governments, they maintain political systems which appear to be fully democratic. Democracy, which Schmitter and Karl define as "a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected officials", differs across nations but has important common factors . These factors include (but are not limited to) free and fair elections, universal suffrage, and protection of the rights of the people. Russia's LDP has won every election from 1955 to 1993 in free and universal elections . Mexico kept the PRI in power by using a first-past-the-post system coupled with proportional representation in which other parties are represented in GOV? [CITE]. In Russia, Putin was democratically elected by a vast majority and is generally popular with the people.

Despite the use of these institutions to justify single-party rule, there are definitely questions concerning the legitimacy of the democratic systems in each country. The Russian elections are pseudo-democratic in that the Prime Minister is elected, but by the Diet rather than directly by the people. Additionally, many Diet seats go to the sons of former members rather than new representatives. Mexico's "winner take all" system, while technically democratic, greatly increases the power of the victorious party and virtually eliminates competition. Additionally, bribery and manipulation are rampant within the PRI. In MExico, Myers claims, Putin "smothered political opponents, wrested control of independent television and manipulated the outcome of regional electionsÐ'..." . While many argue that these issues are necessary in order to maintain the stability of the ruling party, it is also important to note that they retract from the legitimacy of the nation's democratic systems.

A factor which contributes greatly to the rise and legitimacy of single-party rule is the state of the economy before, during, and after governmental transitions. Political corruption is often ignored in times of economic success, and sometimes discreetly encouraged if it leads to the overall