Dual power is a historical reality that has happened on all continents at all times. But it was called differently: diarchy, duumvirate. The principle was also a diarchy - a specific form of the early Roman monarchy, in which the emperor was opposed by the Senate, supported by the people. The essence of these phenomena is the same - the equal status of the two highest officials or centers in the state.
Many countries are familiar with dual power
From the lexical meaning of the word it is clear that dual power is the power of two. There are many examples in history when two people ruled the country at the same time. In Spain, these are the ruling two Ferdinand and Isabella.
In countries such as Bhutan (still exists) and Tibet, there was a dual system of government. Peter I in 1682 ascended the throne with his brother Ivan. But dual power is dual power. If the Spanish dictators were a single whole, then Tsars Ivan V and Peter I were antagonists who sat on the throne at the same time as a result of a bloody streletsky revolt. They represented two clans that hated each other - the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins. Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the Golden Horde and Medieval Sweden, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, England and Scotland from the time of William III of Orange are familiar with such dual power .
Short-term occurrence in case of confrontation
Almost always, the power of two gives rise to turmoil and does not last long by historical standards. That is, dual power, not supported by a common idea and goals, is a temporary phenomenon. Political confrontation cannot be constructive. And the country with him will not be prosperous. This is the case when there is no interaction of power centers, when all power is not divided between them to achieve a better result, but, on the contrary, there is a fierce confrontation between two administrative units exposed by equal powers. In this situation, one way out is possible - one of the parties must be defeated and the power should be concentrated in their own and only in their own hands. Because dual power is always dangerous, it is usually always accompanied by a civil war and a lot of blood.
Purely domestic phenomenon
The most vivid and illustrative example of this statement is the dual power in Russia, established after the February Revolution and lasted from March to July 1917. Despite the fact that history already knew cases of a dual system of government, there were no analogues to what happened in Russia. As noted above, dual power is two branches of government that exist in parallel. In the seventeenth year in Russia, one of them was the Provisional Government, which was an organ of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the other - the Soviets of Workers and Soldiers' Deputies, a sprout of the future power of the people. But at that moment the overwhelming majority of seats in the Council went to the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries - 250, the Bolsheviks received only 28. This happened because the predecessor of the Petrosoviet was the Working Group of the Central Military Industrial Committee (CVPK) created by the Mensheviks in 1915. At the head was the Menshevik K. A. Gvozdev. The Bolsheviks still had little experience in organizational work.
Menshevik anti-people government
Naturally, the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks pursued their policies. The main idea declared by them - the country has not yet matured for the socialist revolution. They proposed the creation of a Provisional Government, which was clothed with power, but the Soviets retained the right to control the activities of the new government structure. The Soviets relied on the strength of the rebellious people, but the bourgeois Provisional Government was in power. The dual power that arose in February is a political confrontation between the people and the bourgeoisie. The two branches of power had different goals - the Bolsheviks demanded the continuation of the revolution, the victory of which would establish the dictatorship of the proletariat, the bourgeoisie demanded the continuation of the war. They disagreed on almost all issues, agreement was reached only in the ban on the seizure of land by landowners. The solution to complex problems because of the impossibility of compromise was postponed to "later."
Well-known Russian trouble
Naturally, in this situation, the crisis of the Provisional Government came already in mid-March. G.E. Lvov became the chairman of the next coalition government of the "socialist ministers", which lasted 1.5 months and survived two crises in such a short time. In general, from March to October, 4 members of the Provisional Government replaced each other.
It was noted above that dual power is almost always a turmoil. There was no sense, however, each newly elected composition of the Provisional Government demanded the continuation of the war and the fulfillment of obligations to the Allies. The Soviets, led by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, were with the government, in essence, at the same time, which undermined the confidence of the people, causing their indignation. A bloody confrontation was brewing. In July, a 500,000-strong demonstration was shot by troops loyal to the Provisional Government, the formation of which was facilitated by the February Revolution. Dual power ended with the victory of the bourgeoisie. The Bolshevik Party was banned and moved to an illegal position.