Political Change in a Stable Two Party State: The United States

Abstract

America epitomizes the model of a stable two party majoritarian system using a plurality electoral system creating a diminished opportunity structure to facilitate the establishment of minor parties. The party systems of the West have represented the traditional cleavages with families of parties - Christian Democracy, labor or social democratic - in aggregated party systems. These traditional cleavages are being displaced by the politics of identity based on national patriotism or sub - cultural defense. These sub-cultures are challenging the sense of an American community with a resistance to assimilation known as multi-culturalism. This sense of an American community is reinforced through the American creed, a creed that conflicted with America's treatment of racial minorities.