Meanings
- political scienceThe principle that plurality-rule elections (such as first past the post) structured within single-member districts tend to favour a two-party system, and that the double-ballot majority system and proportional representation tend to favor multipartyism.
Out of that work emerged Duverger’s Law, which holds that single-member districts tend to produce two-party systems. […] And in the long run, the inexorable machinery of Duverger’s Law will ensure that the Patriot Party is folded back into the Republican Party.
2021 January 28, Michael Tomasky, “Why a Trump Third Party Would Be a Boon for Democrats”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Origin
Attributed to Maurice Duverger, French sociologist who published on the subject in the 1950s and 1960s.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Duverger's law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Duverger's%20law
“Duverger's law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Duverger's%20law. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Duverger's law,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Duverger's%20law.
Source: Duverger's law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.