The years of 'innefectual government' were not caused by the electoral system. If they had been then Germany would have been subjected to constant revolution post 1919, It wasn't. The NSDAP were a nonentity until the Wall Street Crash and the calling in of the US loans. After that, Germany was subjected to the very worst of the Great Depression, far in excess of what we saw here. Hitler's meteoric rise (not gradual at all)post 1928 mirrors the unemployment figures. As the numbers out of work increased so did votes for the nazis.TechnicalEphemera wrote:I disagree, My point is you had years of ineffectual governments, which was a side effect of the system. The issue isn't the last election it was the years before it. Temulkars point about the President is a valid one, but my view isn't that PR is entirely responsible, but the electoral system does make a difference in stopping extremism (or aiding it).mikems wrote:Hitler only 'won' the elections after he unleashed terror on the SDP and KDP, set fire to the Reichstag and had his thugs attack and kidnap thousands of opposition MPs, party leaders and organisers. And he managed to get so much popular support because his party was massively funded by Ruhr iron and steel interests who funded his radio stations, his airplanes, his newspapers and his party organisation.
Hitler 'won' because he was the ruling class's choice. But he never actually won a free and fair election. Even after suppressing the two other main parties, the Nazis failed to win a majority and reached only 43% of the votes.
If you have parties that are willing to behave like that and still get the support of the ruling class, then the voting system has little affect on the outcome.
There is a reason the Blackshirts didn't break through in the UK, despite the backing of the Daily Mail.
PR works in over half of the worlds nations including the largest democracy and Germany today. Under FPTP Hitler would have been elected in 1932 (given that the Nazi party won the popular vote in 3/4 of the different states). The proportional weimar system limited him from absolute power for 18 months.
The weakness in the constitution stemmed from Article 48 not the system of voting.