2010 State Elections in Germany

[mileslunn]

Isn't it amazing how polarized the German electorate is?

The German electorate is very polarized, but isn't it in most western democracies nowadays? The US, the UK, France, Italy?

I think most Western democracies are quite polarized, the United States being the most.  Even though Germany is polarized in its voting patterns, I don't get the impression that the same animosity exists towards their opponents as is the case in the United States.  I should note Canada is one example that doesn't seem that polarized as 30-40% vote for the Tories who are on the right and the remaining 60-70% vote for parties on the centre-left, thus unless you define the Liberals is right in the centre, it appears the left has an advantage in Canada.  Now it is true that if you ask Canadians which party they want to win the next election it is a bit more polarized as usually only slightly more want the Liberals to win over the Tories.  Also Britain in its last election, only 32% voted for the Tories and combined together, 36% voted for parties on the right (I included the BNP, UKIP, Ulster Unionist, Democratic Unionist etc.) and in the previous two elections it was even less.  By contrast in Switzerland, around 2/3 vote for parties on the right (SVP, CVP, and FDP and a few smaller parties) while only a 1/3 on the left (SDP, Greens and a few smaller ones).

[mileslunn]

Even though Germany is polarized in its voting patterns, I don't get the impression that the same animosity exists towards their opponents as is the case in the United States.

I'm not sure whether it's a cause or a effect of this, but you also have to keep in mind that we have governing coalitions crossing the lines of the traditional political camps. Currently these are the CDU/SPD coalitions in Mecklenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, as well as the CDU/Green(/FDP) coalitions in Hamburg and Saarland.

That may be part of, mind you there have been several times in US history where the party that controlled congress was different than that of the president and historically there was far more bipartisan cooperation than today.  I would also argue countries using the first past the post system tend to have less cross-party cooperation since winning a majority is possible whereas in countries that use some form of proportional representation, it is pretty much out of the question.

[mileslunn]

That may be part of, mind you there have been several times in US history where the party that controlled congress was different than that of the president and historically there was far more bipartisan cooperation than today.

Of course, the difference is that none of the political leaders in the U.S. ever chose to have a split control of presidency and congress. It was a situation forced upon by circumstances.

In the Saarland, the Green Party made a conscious decision to form a government with the CDU and the FDP instead of joining the SPD and the Left Party.

True, but also I am sure any of the parties would ideally prefer a outright majority and if not at least a CDU-FDP coalition or a SPD-Green coalition, one's of different ideologies only happen when neither of those combos are possible.