>But does that make the fighting among parties worse, or better? I forget which countries, but I have heard or read that some countries have a hard time forming a "coalition government", or something along those lines. It seems that one of those countries is Israel. I wonder if it's because the have proportional representation.
The situation in the United States - only 2 major parties - seems to be rather the exception than the rule. Many Latin American countries, Bolivia for instance, have lots of parties - and rarely does a party get an absolute majority.
Specifically in the case of Bolivia (probably it is here that there are most changes amongst different countries), if no candidate reaches an absolute majority, the Congress has to vote, I think, among the two candidates that got the most votes. In practice, this usually means alliances between different political parties.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
