Přehled o publikaci

This article refutes the conventional wisdom that Duverger’s classification of pluralistic party systems is simplistic because it recognises only bipartism and multipartism as categories. It demonstrates, first, that by 1951 Duverger had already introduced a more sophisticated typology of pluralistic party systems, one which resembled the one later developed by Sartori; second, that Duverger’s concept of the “paradox of the centre” is no less “counter-intuitive” than Sartori’s concept; third, that – like Sartori –Duverger emphasises the “functioning” of party systems. Sartori, however, dissociated himself from Duverger and attempted to propagate the belief that his approach was fundamentally different. Finally, the article makes the argument that we should revise our simplistic understandings of the development of political science and recognise Duverger’s essential contribution to the theory of party systems