Re:Francis Fukuyama: Paths to Depolarization
by obelos on Wednesday August 10, 2022 @10:11AM
(#32412265)
That's more due to the proportional representation method (STV) used by Australia's upper legislative body. The lower body uses single-seat IRV and for most of the past century has been strongly dominated by two parties. This isn't surprising because IRV (aka RCV) suffers from center squeeze, meaning that it tends to eliminate consensus candidates when there are three or more real contender candidates.
> Moreover, it is not guaranteed to facilitate viable third parties; this has not happened in Australia, for example, where it is the rule.
Australia has a Conservative colalition of two parties, Liberal and National with similar but unaligned goals, and a nominally Left (for some value of Left but not Copmmunist and not the trade union party it once was) Party in Labor.
That's three majors.
Australia also has (largely thanks to RC) a number of independants and small parties that also have a voice both the upper and lower houses (of the various States, and in the Federal Government).
The need to negotiate with small players to build numbers to pass desired policy is a major factor in avoiding the kind of extreme polarisation seen within the central north american region.