From Many to Few to Two: The Liminality of Political Diversity in Modern Society

Graphic by Yunnie Ha

Social welfare, socioeconomic status, and healthcare—the world's solution to such problems is democracy: the ability of individuals to express their own views on these matters. However, society has slowly drifted away from democracy's original purpose. The political landscape has fallen into two sharply divided paths of broad agendas regarding nationalism, identity, and economic models. It causes us to question what direction politics must follow. 

Political parties have become stable in the system of government and even began in the second presidential election of the United States of America. Organization and simplification of representation among different populations’ political interests have made parties a crucial part of representation. These set agendas and goals make the system of government far more efficient. A good example of this representation is the United States with the Democratic Party. Progressive stances on expanding access to affordable healthcare, climate change policies for renewable energy, and social justice on worker rights are examples of set agendas that help simplify diverse values. These diverse values can be important. But, when citizens are divided into groups based on societal class, jobs, and race, representing all those ideas is almost impossible. However, having representative agendas helps individuals identify with a political party before looking for a candidate focusing on specific goals. 

Although multiple political parties might seem viable, the world has slowly shifted towards this 2 party polarization. Many countries, such as the UK, France, and India have seen massive dominance of these parties. The UK had the Labour Party and Conservative Party while kicking out the Liberal Democrats or Greens. Additionally, the French,  despite the profound existence of a multi-party system, has become the political league between La République En Marche vs. National Rally. Lastly, India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its dominance overshadowed other parties, like the Indian National Congress taking 272 out of the 293 seats total in Congress. These changes reflect the erosion of diverse roads and the two clear pathways being made as democracy is no longer in the hands of diverse ideas, but rather these broad agendas to create the illusion that it encapsulates these ideas. 

 These two forces greater forces like the Republican or Democratic parties make smaller political parties almost impossible to function. The comparative amounts of resources, advertising, and public perception are far greater than any other political party. For instance, the Democrats and the Republicans hold most of the American Congress, Electoral College seats, and votes in the United States. Comparatively, the Green Party has not reached over 10 percent in nearly 2 decades as Ralph Nader was the last person to do so in 2000. Similarly, the Democratic National Convention has huge audiences of people supporting and watching the vision of the party each year. Support is not symmetrical for parties, such as the Green party, eventually fueling these parties to thin out as supporters no longer believe that minor political parties can make change. 

This polarization is likely inevitable and is happening right at this moment. Even the commencement of the U.S. warranted the beginning of a long history of polarization with separation in political interests between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Many countries have followed suit including the Republic of Korea with the Democratic Party of Korea, representative with their progressive views on political matters, and the People Power Party, indicative with their conservative views on socio-economic matters 

Many systems of government have come to this period in which the polarization of these political parties is taking over. Newer countries adopting democracies are finding this inevitable circumstance. This extreme extent of competitive affliction between parties only compromises the ongoing societal problem. The phenomenon slows down the progression of political changes due to parties’ bipartisan views on every societal issue., such as abortion, affirmative action, and taxation. This perception of politics causes the growing youth to not feel the same about voting or engaging in the political landscape.    

That begs the question: is there truly an effective way of representing viewpoints in a system of government? Political parties will eventually become bipolar from these agendas that garner greater support each time which only allows the party to expand. This fight for dominance over each party isn’t the essence of democracy. However, the true importance is finding an understanding between political parties. A proper democracy succeeds when all voices can be heard and respected. This time of liminality must lead to the realization that the ultimate goal is not always to win against the opposing party, but to have further solutions to better the country. Only then can we move on from this period, preserving the spirit of democracy and finding solutions that truly change not just a country, but the world.