2009-11-11, 05:35 PM
A two party system is not a purely American thing, but I think it works better than a multi-party system.
If you have a two party system, you have a basic competition between two entities, who form concrete opinions on the major issues, and actualize policy based on those opinions. If you have a multi-party system, you have a lot more complexity in politics, as various parties form coalitions between each other to grab the majority and thus power. If there is like five large mainstream parties, and you as a voter are voting for one of them, you have less voting power than if there are two large mainstream parties. In the two party scenario, you are voting solely for your party, who is the sole competitor of the other party. In the five party scenario, you vote for your party, but you don't really know or have any influence on what they'll do in the coalition; they may have to involve themselves with a party you absolutely detest, and that's happened a lot in history.
I think the clearest example of problems in multi-party politics is France. From what I understand of their system, they have too many parties, and they're always allying, falling out of alliances, and their government keeps collapsing and they have to reform. Again this is from what I've HEARD of it, and I am not exactly an expert on what goes on over there, but it follows the model of what I've heard.
If you have a two party system, you have a basic competition between two entities, who form concrete opinions on the major issues, and actualize policy based on those opinions. If you have a multi-party system, you have a lot more complexity in politics, as various parties form coalitions between each other to grab the majority and thus power. If there is like five large mainstream parties, and you as a voter are voting for one of them, you have less voting power than if there are two large mainstream parties. In the two party scenario, you are voting solely for your party, who is the sole competitor of the other party. In the five party scenario, you vote for your party, but you don't really know or have any influence on what they'll do in the coalition; they may have to involve themselves with a party you absolutely detest, and that's happened a lot in history.
I think the clearest example of problems in multi-party politics is France. From what I understand of their system, they have too many parties, and they're always allying, falling out of alliances, and their government keeps collapsing and they have to reform. Again this is from what I've HEARD of it, and I am not exactly an expert on what goes on over there, but it follows the model of what I've heard.