I wonder if this is really true. It feels true, and I can certainly see proportional representation being more resistant. Certainly more than FPTP. However I’ve grown up in a country with PR that’s pretty well captured by the owner class. Maybe the specific conditions in that country made that easier to happen. Perhaps the economic shock therapy helped that.
I can certainly see proportional representation being more resistant [to authoritarian takeover?]. Certainly more than FPTP.
A country that is governed by its people, and truly so with proportional representation, is the strongest force there can be against an authoritarian takeover. It provides true and uncompromising democratic legitimacy to the government – as a healthy democracy demands.
In 1998, the Supreme Court of Canada said:
A state whose government represents the whole of the people or peoples resident within its territory, on a basis of equality and without discrimination, and respects the principles of self-determination in its own internal arrangements, is entitled to the protection under international law of its territorial integrity.
Reference Question: Secession of Quebec [from Canada].
However I’ve grown up in a country with PR that’s pretty well captured by the owner class.
Hmm, I’d be interested to hear which country! However, I’m not going to give you a fairytale and tell you that proportional representation will solve all our problems – it won’t. But to have every vote count is a real good start.
Perhaps Canada is unique in that in spite of having a non-PR electoral system, we still defy expectations.
And come join us over at !fairvote@lemmy.ca
We have great memes and articles!
I live in a country with proportional representation.
It’s not the best, and stuff takes longer to get done.
But there’s no single asshole that gets to play boss, and that’s the only thing that’s really important.
Ranked choice voting within each riding would be a good compromise that I think most of the country would be ok with. Plenty of us still like having a local representative chosen by locals.
You can have both ranked voting, local representation chosen by locals, and proportional representation under Single Transferable Vote (STV)!
Political parties are the enshittification of democracy.
Cases in point?
Party whips.
Bribery.
Croneyism.
Voting against good legislation because another party introduced it.
Gerrymandering.
Attack ads.
Regulatory capture.
Doug Ford.
I’m not sure if political parties are the cause. I think it’s a combination of winner-take-all electoral systems (e.g., FPTP, IRV), along with weak protections.
Democracy Watch is taking on a lot of these.
