Diarchy

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Diarchy (or dyarchy) is a society or an organization with two rulers on an equal standing. Diarchies are known from ancient Sparta, Rome, Carthage as well as from Germanic and Dacian tribes. Several ancient Polynesian societies exhibited a diarchic political structure as well. Ranks in the Inca Empire were structured in moieties, with two occupants of each rank, but with different prestige, one hanan (upper) and one hurin (lower).

Examples of modern forms are the governments of Andorra, San Marino and Northern Ireland. The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms of British India prescribed a "dyarchy" of ministers who were individually responsible to the legislature.

[edit] India

Due to shaky governments due to the coalition governments in the recent past, Diarchies have been both successfully and unsuccessfully tested in India. Some successful examples include the current government in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka. A failed one was in 1995 in Uttar Pradesh between the BSP and the BJP.

[edit] Italy

Diarchia is also the name applied to the form of government during the fascist period in Italy when the king was still in office as head of state but all power was in the hands of Benito Mussolini.