Uniparty
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Uniparty is used as a term to suggest that ostensibly separate political parties actually function as a single party. It is often used to describe the United States Republican Party and Democratic Party as two faces of a uniparty, though it has also been used in reference to the British Conservative Party and Labour Party.[1] The implication of the term is that despite their public differences, the two parties operate behind closed doors as a single entity, intentionally creating social strife and dividing people between them while pursuing a single secret uniform set of actual goals. It is further supposed that this "uniparty" actively works to suppress any genuine alternatives from arising, using control of the media and ballot access limitations.[2]
History
[edit]A 2017 Politico piece examining the history of the term traced it back to a 1944 scandal wherein a letter (which turned out to be a forgery) was claimed to show that Franklin D. Roosevelt had selected Wendell Willkie to be his opponent in the 1940 election.[3] Supporters of the 2000 Green Party presidential bid of Ralph Nader used the term extensively, and Nader himself called the prevailing political structure a "corporate uniparty" in his 2002 book Crashing the Party.[3]
The term saw resurgence in 2024 with claims by figures including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the two-party system operates as a uniparty.[4][5]
See also
[edit]- Controlled opposition
- Grand coalition
- Bipartisanship in US politics
- Boll weevil (politics)
- Dominant-party system
- Duverger's law
- Problem Solvers Caucus
- Republicrat
- Rockefeller Republican
- Southern Democrats
- Third party (United States)
- Two-party system
- One-party state
References
[edit]- ^ Roussinos, Aris; Harrington, Mary; McTague, Tom; Sayers, Freddie (May 31, 2024). "Welcome to the Uniparty election". UnHerd.
- ^ Rohac, Dalibor (May 19, 2024). "The 'Uniparty' Is Real—but It Isn't What You Think". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
- ^ a b Zimmer, Ben (November 17, 2017). "The Strange History of the 'Uniparty'". POLITICO Magazine.
- ^ Skelley, Geoffrey (April 16, 2024). "The far right claims there's a 'uniparty' in Washington. Reality suggests otherwise". ABC News.
- ^ Kilgore, Ed (April 17, 2024). "The 'Uniparty' Delusion Shared by MTG and RFK Jr". Intelligencer.
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