| > At this point, does any major European country have more than two viable parties or coalitions? If we look at the coalitions that have happened at the national level in this century, we have: * Social Democrats + Greens * Conservatives + Social Democrats (like, a lot) * Conservatives + Liberals So that's three different coalitions that have actually happened in the last 20 years. Admittedly three is not a lot more than two, but it is more (and we're talking about a time frame that only includes 5 national elections and only about actual coalitions, not potentially viable ones). And if you look at state governments as well, there are actually a lot more combinations that seem to work. > Will the German Greens ever get a Cabinet seat outside a coalition with the Social Democrats? Almost certainly. At the state level they already have. In one case they're even the majority with the conservatives being the minority partner in the coalition. At the national level they almost did in 2017. Negotiations between the conservatives, the greens and the liberals failed because the liberals backed out and the greens + conservatives didn't have a majority on their own - they would have been ready to go otherwise. It is entirely possible, even likely, that we will see a conservative-green coalition after this year's elections. |