> If we had proportional representation, we would have a lot of little
> parties all of which would be concerned with ideological purity (in
> order to maintain their electoral base) and patronage (in order to
> keep a cadre of party workers). The French Fourth Republic and
> post-WWII Italy seem odd to adopt as models.
France and Italy both delivered riproaring postwar booms, with rising real wages and decent amounts of social equity (and Italy went from a 2nd world country to a 1st world country in 35 years, no mean feat).
If PR doesn't matter, why did your favorite revolutionaries, the Eastern Europeans who rose up against The Grim Evil Kom-byoo-nist Tyranny, adopt EU-style PR systems?
-- Dennis