> the process of effective contention and coalition building drives everything into two sides. This doesn't seem right. First, there are a lot of political sy

> the process of effective contention and coalition building drives everything into two sides. This doesn't seem right. First, there are a lot of political systems with more than one "side", and in which coalitions are at least somewhat fluid. This is even true in the United States; if you have ever served on a board that proposes a bond issue or tax increase, you know that that coalitions are quite local and easy to fragment (need to build a new school on the south side, but the north side has lots of tax hawks? Include a new football stadium on the north side as part of the issue). Second, think about conflict outside of politics. There is a lot of conflict in markets, for example, but most markets do not tend toward duopoly.