he United States has been attributed to a number of different factors. Foremost among these are structural constraints. The absence of proportional representation in legislative bodies discourages the existence of minority parties. The winner-take-all rule and single-member districts codifies proportional representation out of existence. A second set of factors may be cultural constraints. American political culture tends toward moderation and, thus is not conducive to a multiparty system.
Responsibility for this electoral ambivalence with more than two major parties rests largely with AmericanÆs system of government. Though the president is head of government as well as head of state, he has no assurance of a legislative majority. That the executive branch and the legislative branch should be divided between parties is virtually unheard of elsewhere. The situation is exacerbated by the division of congress into two houses, neither having primacy. With three independent entities, U.S. government demands an unusual degree of compromise, and thus becomes centrist. The consensus pattern of U.S. politics is strengthened further by the coalition nature of both parties. A conservative Democrat may have more in common with a conservative Republican then a liberal of his own party. Third-party movements that periodically crop up-ùPopulist, Progressi
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