In short, stable majorities are harder to establish (a coalition even runs Britain, where the first-past-the-post system is designed for single-party government).

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

But the result was a dodgy referendum that strengthened the presidency and replaced the party-list system with single-member districts for parliamentary polls.

ECONOMIST: A proliferation of revolutions

He steered clear of the approach favoured by the party's left a single-payer system, like Canada's or Britain's.

ECONOMIST: The candidates: John Edwards

He must also avoid giving the impression that he has given up too easily his own party's dream of an ultra-proportional system of single transferable votes.

ECONOMIST: The Jenkins recipe

It could be a big boost to the Pirate Party elsewhere, particularly in countries with proportional representation rather than a single-member, district-based system which favors larger parties.

FORBES: Cutlasses Between Their Teeth, Three Pirate MPs Board Iceland's Parliament

Many worry that partisanship in the U.S. leads to policy paralysis, but political disagreement here pales in comparison to the European Union, which has 27 member states whose political landscapes feature far more parties than the two-party system in the U.S. The U.S. also possesses a single jurisdictional political entity that allows it to enforce a common fiscal and monetary policy across all of its parts.

FORBES: The United States Need Not Become Europe