Editing Two-party system (section)

==Comparison with other systems==
{{See also|Top-four primary}}
Two-party systems can be contrasted with:

*[[Multi-party system]]s. In these, the [[effective number of parties]] is greater than two but usually fewer than five; in a two-party system, the effective number of parties is two (according to one analysis, the actual average number of parties varies between 1.7 and 2.1).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hsz3ML3hgUUC&q=%22two+party+system%22+effective+number+of+parties&pg=PA69 |title=Electoral Systems and Party Systems: A Study of Twenty-Seven Democracies ... |via=Google Books |access-date=2012-10-29 |isbn=978-0198273479 |year=1994 |last1=Lijphart |first1=Arend |last2=Aitkin |first2=Don |publisher=Oxford University Press |archive-date=2020-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002181318/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hsz3ML3hgUUC&pg=PA69&dq=%22two+party+system%22+effective+number+of+parties |url-status=live }}</ref> The parties in a multi-party system can control government separately or as a coalition; in a two-party system, coalition governments rarely form. Nations with multi-party systems include [[Belgium]], [[Brazil]], [[Denmark]], [[Finland]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[India]], [[Indonesia]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Israel]], [[Italy]], [[Mexico]], [[Nepal]], the [[Netherlands]], [[New Zealand]], [[Norway]], [[Pakistan]], [[Philippines]], [[Portugal]], [[Ukraine]], [[Suriname]], [[Sweden]] and [[Thailand]].

*[[Dominant-party system]]s are present where a dominant party holds a vast majority for decades and the party institutions may be intertwined with, or hard to distinguish from the major institutions of the state. Unlike in one-party-states, [[civil rights]] and [[freedom of press]] may be preserved. This can occur in countries which are formally democratic (such as the case of the [[People's Action Party]] of [[Singapore]], the [[African National Congress]] of [[South Africa]], the [[Colorado Party (Paraguay)|Colorado Party]] in [[Paraguay]], the [[SWAPO]] in [[Namibia]], and the [[Dominica Labour Party]] in [[Dominica]]) or in countries which are only nominally democratic, where the allowance of the existence of multiple parties is merely a front to give the illusion of a democratic system (such as the case of the [[People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan]] in [[Tajikistan]], the [[New Azerbaijan Party]] in [[Azerbaijan]], the [[Democratic Party of Turkmenistan]] in [[Turkmenistan]], [[United Russia]] in [[Russia]], the [[Union for the Republic (Togo)|Union for the Republic]] in [[Togo]], the [[Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea]] in [[Equatorial Guinea]], and the [[Cameroon People's Democratic Movement]] in [[Cameroon]]).

*[[One-party state|One-party systems]] happen in nations where no more than one party is codified in law and/or officially recognized, or where alternate parties are restricted (sometimes constitutionally) by or in favor of the dominant party which wields power. Examples are rule by the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] and [[Communist Party of Cuba]] in the former case, and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and [[Workers' Party of Korea]] in the latter case.