Interesting. I think that long-term coherent policies are best supported by strongly multi-party systems: when the power is shared by several parties, you don't

Interesting. I think that long-term coherent policies are best supported by strongly multi-party systems: when the power is shared by several parties, you don't get the political swing after each election that can happen with two-party systems. To take it to the extreme, consider Switzerland, where the largest party has only 26.6% of the votes. 11 parties are represented in the parliament, and the executive power is shared equally among 7 ministers representing 4 different parties. The system offers an unusual continuity in the executive branch: The Swiss executive is one of the most stable governments worldwide. Since 1848, it has never been renewed entirely at the same time, providing a long-term continuity. From 1959 to 2003 the Federal Council was composed of a coalition of all major parties in the same ratio: 2 each from the Free Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and Christian Democratic People's Party and 1 from the Swiss People's Party. Changes in the council occur typically only if one of the members resigns (merely four incumbent members were voted out of the office in over 150 years); this member is almost always replaced by someone from the same party (and often also from the same linguistic group). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Switzerland#Executive_branch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Switzerland#Executi...