Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Does The US Electoral System Provide A Good Model For Other Nations?

The US primary campaign, starring Donald Trump, has provided good entertainment for the rest of the world.  Most Americans would argue that the US electoral system is the best in the world and that the Donald Trump show is atypical.  That is true; this is not a typical election.  On the other hand, political scientists have developed methods to rank electoral systems in terms of their democratic effectiveness.  The US ranks at the bottom in comparison with most of the developed world.  It compares more closely to Mexico than it does to most of the countries in Europe.  We are familiar with many of the more obvious problems with our system.  The problems with our electoral system are more numerous than we might imagine.  We do not provide a good example to the rest of the world.

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