The collapse of European democracy points up the overwhelming superiority of the Westminister electoral and political system. This is because the Westminster system is designed to deliver legislative authority to the executive government. Westminster system nations have been notably reluctant to give up national sovereignty and national currencies. Few choose their main house of parliament through proportional representation.
The EU acts not only to drain democratic responsibility from national governments, but to prevent flexible economic response. Notably, the euro countries cannot devalue their currencies, but they also have difficulty controlling social welfare, reforming industrial relations and controlling their borders, all of which are elements of policy necessary to deal with an economic crisis.
Most European nations use proportional representation, which almost guarantees minority governments. It is an irony of the present situation that the two greatest exemplars of Westminster democracy, Britain and Australia, have minority governments. But this is an anomaly for both countries, and both are more poorly governed because of their minority governments.
The best-run nation in the West today is Canada. Its government moved from minority to majority status by campaigning against a carbon tax.
Australia has introduced some of the pathology of minority government through the expansion of the Senate, which is tied constitutionally to the size of the House of Representatives. This was disguised in the Hawke/Keating years because the Liberals passed Labor's economic reforms and the Australian Democrats passed its social agenda. Even under John Howard the Australian Democrats let key reforms, such as the GST and industrial relations reform, go through. But in the Greens we now have a very European-style irresponsibility lodged in the heart of our system. Whichever road we travel, we shouldn't emulate any aspect of European governance.
