Which country has the most interesting political life?

[Associate Justice PiT]

The US have a very interesting political life, even though depressing on some aspects. French one is rendered silly by personalization of politics and by the fact the Presidential eleciton is the only one anybody cares about. The italian one is like a bad joke, mildly funny for the first 1.5 seconds and then makes you want to shoot at people. German politics seem interesting, but I'd need to know more about them.

     I always thought that France had rather interesting politics, since the two-round system makes elections rather unpredictable by bolstering minor parties. If they had any other system, Chirac vs. Le Pen would almost certainly not have happened.

[Associate Justice PiT]

The US have a very interesting political life, even though depressing on some aspects. French one is rendered silly by personalization of politics and by the fact the Presidential eleciton is the only one anybody cares about. The italian one is like a bad joke, mildly funny for the first 1.5 seconds and then makes you want to shoot at people. German politics seem interesting, but I'd need to know more about them.

     I always thought that France had rather interesting politics, since the two-round system makes elections rather unpredictable by bolstering minor parties. If they had any other system, Chirac vs. Le Pen would almost certainly not have happened.

Oh, the Presidential election is quite fun (besides ridiculously predictable and dull ones like 2007). The problem is that's we spend 5 years talking about it, and as a consequence the Parliament and local entities get systematically ignored and considered useless. And in politics, what is considered useless eventually becomes useless.

     The legislative & regional elections also seem interesting to me, though. At the very least, you guys have more than two parties of note.

[Associate Justice PiT]

The US have a very interesting political life, even though depressing on some aspects. French one is rendered silly by personalization of politics and by the fact the Presidential eleciton is the only one anybody cares about. The italian one is like a bad joke, mildly funny for the first 1.5 seconds and then makes you want to shoot at people. German politics seem interesting, but I'd need to know more about them.

     I always thought that France had rather interesting politics, since the two-round system makes elections rather unpredictable by bolstering minor parties. If they had any other system, Chirac vs. Le Pen would almost certainly not have happened.

Oh, the Presidential election is quite fun (besides ridiculously predictable and dull ones like 2007). The problem is that's we spend 5 years talking about it, and as a consequence the Parliament and local entities get systematically ignored and considered useless. And in politics, what is considered useless eventually becomes useless.

     The legislative & regional elections also seem interesting to me, though. At the very least, you guys have more than two parties of note.

Well, that's the case in most European countries. And at least in Germany or in Sweden they don't get ridiculously underrepresented like in France...

The legislative elections would be far more interesting if the parliament were a true parliament and not a spineless government's tool (interestingly, the unelected Senate is by far the most independent of the two houses). Regional elections would be more interesting if regions actually had some power, like in Germany or in Spain. And following these two elections would also be far more interesting if the voters didn't always use them to express approval/disapproval of the President.

     Most countries do have a multiplicity of competitive parties, but the United States does not. Not to mention that with an increasingly polarized electorate, elections are becoming more & more "paint by the numbers". There's about a dozen states now that would never elect a Republican Senator except under the most extreme circumstances & another dozen that would likewise never elect a Democrat. As bad as that is, the situation is much worse in the House of Representatives. I would doubt that France has so many elections that are just altogether foregone conclusions.

     With that said, I suppose that it's probably a case of the grass looking greener on the other side of the fence. When it comes to looking at problems with politics in various countries, you can see the problems with your own most keenly.