#multiparty democracy

The French election shows that having two political parties is better than three

The Louvre in Paris, France, February 9, 2020 (Unsplash/Louis Paulin) I once hailed the French voting model as an alternative to America’s. Unlike the first-past-the-post system, which encourages voters to sort into two major parties lest their vote be wasted, France’s two-round voting system encourages temporary, not permanent polarization. Multiple parties thrive in the first round. Voters…

The three political traditions that explain the French election

French president Charles de Gaulle visits the Netherlands, March 16, 1963 (Anefo/Eric Koch) The division that emerged in France five years ago still hasn’t healed. Once more (French presidents are limited to two terms), Emmanuel Macron, the candidate of the cities, the optimists, the outward-looking and the university-educated, faces Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the small towns, the worried,…

Political fragmentation hasn't weakened Germany

Debate in the plenary chamber of the German parliament in Berlin, July 1, 2020 (Pixabay) When Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats — who frequently split up to 90 percent of the votes between them during the Cold War era — fell to a combined 50 percent support in the federal election in September, alarm bells went off on the other side of the Atlantic. The New York Times saw…

Political fragmentation isn't the problem

Parliament House in Stockholm, Sweden (iStock/El Mehdi El Khayyat) Another political crisis in Europe, another chance to beat on multiparty democracy. It’s not like the two-party systems of America and Britain are crisis-free, yet journalists in those countries have a tendency to find complex causes for their own political problems while reducing continental Europe’s to “fragmentation”. Today’s…

Fragmented Dutch parliament lacks experience

Dutch lawmakers listen to a debate in parliament in The Hague, September 29, 2020 (Tweede Kamer) Regular readers know I’m not a fan of two-party democracy. It reduces politics to simplistic either-or choices. It encourages parties to radicalize their supporters and appeal to the extremes rather than to the center. Multiparty democracy, by contrast, engenders moderation and compromise. Multiparty…

Netanyahu's rivals must do a deal with Arab parties

Israeli party leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz attend a meeting in Jerusalem, November 18, 2019 (Flash90/Hadas Parush) Israel’s center-left has a chance to eject Benjamin Netanyahu after twelve years of right-wing government — if they are willing to make a deal with Arab parties. Deals with non-Zionist parties are almost taboo in Israel, which is 75 percent Jewish. This permanently excludes the…

Spanish tribulations in multiparty democracy

Spanish Podemos party leader Pablo Iglesias speaks at a rally in Madrid, May 20, 2017 (Podemos) The rise of new parties on the left, right and center has created new opportunities in Spain: a left-wing minority government that usually relies on the support of Basque and Catalan separatists in Congress, but on rare occasions takes votes from the far-right newcomer Vox (Voice). It has also created…

America's rigid two-party system is what its Founders feared

The sun sets on Washington DC (Shutterstock)

Lee Drutman, a political scientist, argues in The Atlantic that America has become the rigid two-party system its founders feared.

The authors of America’s Constitution wanted to make it impossible for a partisan majority to ever unite and take control of the government, which they could then use to oppress the minority.

The fragile consent of the…