As the 2020 presidential election approaches, many US voters find themselves in a difficult situation. With little common ground among the Democratic and Republican candidates, the polarization of both parties has left many voters feeling unrepresented. People start to question the legitimacy of the two-party system--does it undermine democracy? Is it really a favorable system for electing the optimal candidate? Would the introduction of more political parties mitigate polarization and increase representation?
Despite the concern of deviating from electing the best leader, the two-party system unarguably promotes governmental stability, because a single party can win a majority in the legislature. In a multiparty country, on the other hand, the formation of a government depends on the maintenance of a coalition of parties with enough total strength to form a legislature majority. The weakness of ties that bind the coalition may threaten the continuance of a cabinet in power. A constantly changing government is also unstable in terms of law making.
The two-party system tends to maintain the balance of powers and moderate radical ideologies. To appeal for the support of a majority of voters, a party must present a program sympathetic to the desires of most of the politically active elements of the population. An effort must be made to reconcile the conflicting interests of different sectors of the population. This enables the party to resist the demands of policies urged by any particular extremist element.
A multiparty system could cultivate factions. In the Federalist.10, James Madison warns about the potential dangers of factions and how it disrupts democracy. Against "the minor party," there could emerge "an interested and overbearing majority.” In a multiparty system, under special times, extreme parties could quickly draw dominance and undermine the work of democracy. The collapse of minority governments in the 20s to 30s German Reichstag remains a traumatic failure in the world’s history.
Between 1920 and 1933, the Reichstag was filled with a surplus of middle and small-sized parties, occupying all parts of the political spectrum. With the removal of the authoritarian regime, Germans were curious about the political direction their nation would take. In addition, the Weimar constitution and electoral system encouraged the formation and participation of political parties, no matter their size. A party needed only to assemble 50,000 to 60,000 votes to win a seat and have a voice in the national assembly.
In the 1930s, parliamentarians started to lose the ability to find compromises only once the Great Depression devastated the German economy. The economic turmoil following the Black Tuesday of 1929 attracted people to extreme ideologies in an extreme time of crisis. The Nazi party began to flourish under such circumstances. The rise of the Nazi party in 1932 has dramatically changed the composition of the Reichstag, as the Nazis absorbed votes and seats from other right-wing nationalist parties.
Multi-party systems also tend to be more common in parliamentary systems than presidential systems and far more common in countries that use proportional representation compared to countries that use first-past-the-post elections. In first-past-the-posts, each district selects one person to fill a seat by a plurality of the vote. This electoral system naturally gravitates toward a two-party system, in which only two parties have a real chance of electing their candidates to office.
Same as in 1929, we are now in a time of unpredictable changes and unprecedented crisis. The pandemic, as well as racial injustices in American society, has torn people apart. These are easy times for the growth of radicalized ideologies. Although some people think this year’s election is disastrously polarized, the adoption of a multi-party system might have escalated the division in the country.
Would a multiparty system work better for the United States at the cost of risking the stability of a two-party system? That’s something worth thinking about.
http://cincinnatirepublic.com/federalist-no-10-inevitable-danger-factions/
https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-political-parties/
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