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Maybe for the US you have only 2 choices, but Europe actually has quite a few "new" parties recently. UKIP[0], Podemos[1], and SYRIZA[2] (and many others I'm no

Maybe for the US you have only 2 choices, but Europe actually has quite a few "new" parties recently. UKIP[0], Podemos[1], and SYRIZA[2] (and many others I'm not well acquainted with) have all cropped up in the past few years, and have had quite a lot of success. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podemos_%28Spanish_political_party%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podemos_%28Spanish_political_pa... 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left

bostik 12y ago
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
- aswanson 12y ago
  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.
  - philwelch 12y ago
    The US hasn't had the "horrible disturbances" that Europe has had.
    - aswanson 12y ago
      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.
      - akie 12y ago
        Well, neither ww1 nor ww2 was as damaging for the US as it was for Europe... but then again, we started them ;-)
      - philwelch 12y ago
        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.
aswanson 12y ago
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?
- eli_gottlieb 12y ago
  Many EU nations use parliamentary democracy instead of the Duverger's-law-ridden First Past the Post elections to district seats used in America.
  - lclarkmichalek 12y ago
    The UK uses FPTP, and has 4ish parties that are relevant in everyday politics.
    - henrikschroder 12y ago
      That's an anomaly, the stable state for a FPTP system is a two-party system. Enjoy it while it lasts.
      - lclarkmichalek 12y ago
        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

bostik 12y ago

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

aswanson 12y ago
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.
- philwelch 12y ago
  The US hasn't had the "horrible disturbances" that Europe has had.
  - aswanson 12y ago
    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.
    - akie 12y ago
      Well, neither ww1 nor ww2 was as damaging for the US as it was for Europe... but then again, we started them ;-)
    - philwelch 12y ago
      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.

aswanson 12y ago

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?

eli_gottlieb 12y ago
Many EU nations use parliamentary democracy instead of the Duverger's-law-ridden First Past the Post elections to district seats used in America.
- lclarkmichalek 12y ago
  The UK uses FPTP, and has 4ish parties that are relevant in everyday politics.
  - henrikschroder 12y ago
    That's an anomaly, the stable state for a FPTP system is a two-party system. Enjoy it while it lasts.
    - lclarkmichalek 12y ago
      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