Bourgeois democracy

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Bourgeois democracy is a means of setting up a capitalist economy in such a way as to settle disputes between the bourgeois without disrupting the overall power structure of the government. These governments tend to call themself democratic despite the fact that the control a citizen of these nations has over their government is minimal unless they are of the owning class. Bourgeois democracy does not benefit the majority of people and excludes the proletariat from power.

Forms of bourgeois democracy

First past the post

First past the post is one of the oldest bourgeois democratic systems, and is the electoral system used by the USA and the UK among others. This system works on a winner takes it all basis meaning that if a party gets the most votes in a constituency they take control of the entire constituency, so a politician can get 100% of the control of a constituency with as little as 25% of the votes if the votes are sufficiently split. The party that controls at least 50% of these constituencies gains full control of the government until the next election. Although smaller parties can sometimes gain a seat, this system usually leads to an effective two party system as the population believes they have to vote for one of the two biggest parties or risk wasting their vote.

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is an alternative electoral system that is used by most EU countries, it is claimed by liberals who accept the faults of first past the post to be a fairer electoral system. This system works on a basis of control of a constituency being divided by the percentage of votes each party receives meaning it is rare for any one party to have the 50% of seats needed to control the government. This system usually leads to coalition governments between parties with similar views banding together to reach the 50% needed to form a government, allowing radical parties a higher chance of gaining power, although communist parties are usually excluded from this.