Systèmes partisans compétitifs: quelle divergence entre Duverger et Sartori?

This text refutes the conventional wisdom that Duverger’s classification of pluralistic party systems is simplistic because it recognizes only bipartism and multipartism as categories. It indicates that: 1. By 1951, Duverger had already introduced a more sophisticated typology of pluralistic party systems, one which resembled the later one by Sartori; 2. Duverger authored the concept of the «paradox of the centre», that is no less «counter-intuitive» compared to Sartori’s concept; 3. Like Sartori, Duverger puts emphasis on the «functioning» of party systems; Sartori, however, dissociated himself from Duverger and tried to propagate the belief that his approach is fundamentally different from Duverger’s; 4. It is necessary to revise the simplistic understanding of the development of political science and to recognize Duverger’s contribution to the theory of party systems as fundamental.