To start with - I happen to be European. (Finn, living in UK.) I would say that all three of your examples actually confirm what I sad above.
UKIP, Podemos and SYRIZA are all parties that rose to their position of power only after the status quo was already horribly disturbed.
UKIP - While UK feels a bit xenophobic at times, it was only when the financial stability was shattered that a more-extreme-than-current protest movement gained power
SYRIZA - rose to power after Greece economy was first demolished, and then further abused; again, the calm and nice status quo was disturbed
Podemos - I hear Spain has suffered similarly since the financial crisis and is still in the process of starting their recovery
UKIP, Podemos and SYRIZA are all parties that rose to their position of power only after the status quo was already horribly disturbed
In the U.S., after horrible disturbances, we watch the two parties blame each other on talk radio, Fox News, and MSNBC and then vote the same parties in.
The US hasn't had the "horrible disturbances" that Europe has had.
I guess if you omit the civil war, ww1, ww2, the great depression, the financial crisis of 2008, racial strife, 1970s stagflation, and any number of major disruptions from the historical record, youre right.
Well, neither ww1 nor ww2 was as damaging for the US as it was for Europe... but then again, we started them ;-)
I meant in recent years, but the 2008 financial crisis was nothing in the US compared to what it was in Europe. The US Dollar was never at major threat of collapse the way the Euro was.
Agrees, this is one area Europe clearly has us beat, viable n party candidates, where n is greater than 2. Im not quite sure why things evolved that way. Is it a side effect of capitalism?
Re:Confessions of a Congressman
by eli_gottlieb on Saturday February 07, 2015 @11:40AM
(#9014434)
Many EU nations use parliamentary democracy instead of the Duverger's-law-ridden First Past the Post elections to district seats used in America.
Re:Confessions of a Congressman
by lclarkmichalek on Saturday February 07, 2015 @01:07PM
(#9014736)
The UK uses FPTP, and has 4ish parties that are relevant in everyday politics.
Re:Confessions of a Congressman
by henrikschroder on Saturday February 07, 2015 @02:07PM
(#9014948)
That's an anomaly, the stable state for a FPTP system is a two-party system. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Re:Confessions of a Congressman
by lclarkmichalek on Saturday February 07, 2015 @04:30PM
(#9015368)
We've had a significant 3rd party (Lib dems) since the 90s. Sure, FPTP sucks, but British politics has had more than 2 parties (that actually win seats) for quite a while
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podemos_%28Spanish_political_pa... 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left