Polarized pluralism

Polarized pluralism is a symptom of a sick two-party or multi-party political system. It was originally described by political philosopher Sartori, and defines a system where moderate views are replaced by polarized views.

In a typical two-plus, two-party, or multi-party system, the distribution of party power looks like a slightly skewed normal curve. Most of the country is moderate or moderate-leaning liberal or conservative. If the country suffers polarized pluralism, then the curve is more like a bimodal distribution, with the power at the far political left and right ends, and a severe dip in the middle; one side will have more influence than the other, creating a strong trend to follow them. The extremist group with the most control eventually gains full control of the state; compromises eventually become nonexistent, and the controlling power tramples the opposition on all issues.

Polarized pluralism was visible immediately preceding the Nazi era in Germany. The country had a strong support for communism, but a slightly but significantly stronger support for the Nazi party. Communism lies on the far left, while the Nazi party lies on the far right, associated with fascism.