Duvergier, Maurice

(1917- )

   jurist, political theorist

   Born in Angoulême, Maurice Duvergier is the author of numerous texts and scholarly manuals (Droit constitutionnel et institutions politiques, 1951; Le Système politique français, 20th edition in 1990; La Nostalgie de l'impuissance, 1988; Le Lièvre libéral et la Tortue européenne, 1990), and was for a long time one of the principal writers for the newspaper Le Monde. His study, Les Partis politiques (1951), has become a classic of political sociology. In it, he proposes a typology of parties, distinguishing the membership parties (partis de notables) from mass parties (partis des militants). He has shown that the portional party type (the Italian or French fourth republic model) tends toward a multiplication of parties and that that of majority scrutiny (the British model) tends toward a biparty structure. In 1989, Duvergier was elected to the European Parliament (see European union) on a list presented by the Italian Communist Party.