Portal:Politics/Selected article/2007, week 47

A single-party state or one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election. Sometimes de facto single-party state is used about a dominant-party system where unfair laws or practices prevent the opposition from legally getting power. Some single party states only outlaw opposition parties, subordinate allied parties can exist as part of a popular front. Such dominant parties are usually referred to in their specific contexts as the Party.

A one-party system should not be confused with a non-partisan democracy which prohibits all political parties. Also, some one-party states may allow non-party members to run for legislative seats, as was the case with Taiwan's Tangwai movement in the 1970s and 1980s.

In most cases, single-party states have arisen from fascist, socialist, or nationalist ideologies, particularly in the wake of independence from colonial rule. One-party systems often arise from decolonization because one party has had an overwhelmingly dominant role in liberation or in independence struggles.