this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Political Memes

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

Sounds unstable and scary.

edit: calm down, I'm sure 90% of the time it's a much better system than the US, but the way it is described in the title does not sound stable.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Usually we just vote, they find a coalition and it stays that way for a few years

About coalitions: they mean that the parties in power need at least 50%, so if there's not a single party with over 50% ("absolute majority") they need a partner. The big parties in my country usually get 20-30%.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Usually we just vote, they find a coalition and it stays that way for a few years

laughs in Italian

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've read that in Belgium (the worst offendor in this regard), the regional governments have so much power that not having a national government for a year or so isn't much of a problem.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Belgium is a federal country, like Germany or the US. The regions have control over some things, not everything. Plus the current federal government stays as caretaker until a new government is formed.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Better an unstable government than an unstable guy at the lead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Not everything has to be a zero sum game

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

I'd argue that political stability consists of and depends on at least rule of law, separation of powers and democratic representation. The EU and its member still have a lot to progress in this regard, though. Coalition building is kind of a comprise towards building pluralistic quasi-consensus based decision-making.

IMO, coalition political systems have the potential to politically deal better with long-term issues as small parties can influence governments beyond a single term. Green parties, but unfortunately also far-right parties, for example can thus push for their topics.

The US also had a coalition, the National Unity Party during its Civil War.