Questions About Other Countries' Politics that You Were Too Afraid To Ask

[Sol]

This is the thread for ignorant Americans who don't want to derail high quality international discussion by asking silly crap.

I'll start: what it would it take for the political position of Plaid Cymru to seriously improve, as occurred for the SNP?

[If my soul was made of stone]

I'll start: what it would it take for the political position of Plaid Cymru to seriously improve, as occurred for the SNP?

1.5 million people wake up one day to discover that they have suddenly become fluent in Welsh.

[pikachu]

Italy really confuses me in general, but one thing really confused me from the recent election - what do people mean by saying M5S is a parody of an old-school labor party?

[US Politics Fanatic]

What kind of people usually vote for the Lib Dems in the UK ?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Italy really confuses me in general, but one thing really confused me from the recent election - what do people mean by saying M5S is a parody of an old-school labor party?

It has the internal political culture of a weirdo extremely-online e-utopian techbro party (by design!) yet its main actual policy accomplishment, at least on the national level, is also the only major leftist social/welfare policy achievement in Italy for a long time (the citizen's income, basically a diminished form of UBI). As of last month's election it also now has the voter pattern--in the South, its main remaining stronghold--that one expects of a traditional left-wing party, namely gritty working-class cities and especially deprived areas of the rurals.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

Italy really confuses me in general, but one thing really confused me from the recent election - what do people mean by saying M5S is a parody of an old-school labor party?

Italy really confuses me in general, but one thing really confused me from the recent election - what do people mean by saying M5S is a parody of an old-school labor party?

It has the internal political culture of a weirdo extremely-online e-utopian techbro party (by design!) yet its main actual policy accomplishment, at least on the national level, is also the only major leftist social/welfare policy achievement in Italy for a long time (the citizen's income, basically a diminished form of UBI). As of last month's election it also now has the voter pattern--in the South, its main remaining stronghold--that one expects of a traditional left-wing party, namely gritty working-class cities and especially deprived areas of the rurals.

They also made putting in place a minimum wage (which Italy currently doesn't have) the centerpiece of their campaign this year. They've stumbled ass-backwards into this being their role in the political system rather than intending it, but they seem comfortable with it for now. And even if some of their views continue to be stupid and/or self-defeating, having a party that actually does see that as its role again (since it hasn't had one, no matter how flawed, arguably since the PCI stopped being the PCI) should be a good thing for Italian politics.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

I'll start: what it would it take for the political position of Plaid Cymru to seriously improve, as occurred for the SNP?

1.5 million people wake up one day to discover that they have suddenly become fluent in Welsh.

While this thread got labeled 'the thread for ignorant Americans', you'll of course find that lots of British people don't get this and sometimes in fact actively refuse to.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

[EastAnglianLefty]

What kind of people usually vote for the Lib Dems in the UK ?

Varies widely depending on context. Their activist base has always had a lot of people who believed in liberalism as a political philosophy, but until recently this applied to very few of their voters and even now that's not the only major current.

Their historic strongholds were areas that didn't fit with the dominant political cultures of either the Tories or Labour (mostly relatively working-class rural areas, often non-English and non-Anglican.) To that they added in the period 1979-2015 voters who didn't like the dominant party in their areas, people impressed by pavement politics and a lot of cranks. In 2005 and 2010 they also won a lot of students and a lot people who viewed themselves as being too left-wing for Labour.

Most of these voters were repelled by the coalition government, and since 2015 their recovery has been concentrated in highly-educated middle-class areas, often wealthier than the norm, some of which they hadn't previously been strong in. However, in local elections their support is more likely to reflect older patterns of support (and a lot of their local voters don't vote for them nationally) and they are also able to have huge spikes of support in by-elections because they can play the role of a catch-all "down with this sort of thing" party.

[US Politics Fanatic]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

I think it is because The US is the symbol of capitalism in the mind of many europeans. They don't have the feeling Russia is as capitalist as the US because it has been the USSR for so long.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Knee-jerk "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"-ism. Seeing America as their enemy in the first place is a Cold War-brained cognitive bias that the dinosaurs in charge of most of these types of parties just haven't bothered trying to overcome.

[Tintrlvr]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Knee-jerk "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"-ism. Seeing America as their enemy in the first place is a Cold War-brained cognitive bias that the dinosaurs in charge of most of these types of parties just haven't bothered trying to overcome.

I would say also that at least some seem to be under the impression that modern Russia is still the Soviet Union under Lenin.

[Tintrlvr]

I'll start: what it would it take for the political position of Plaid Cymru to seriously improve, as occurred for the SNP?

1.5 million people wake up one day to discover that they have suddenly become fluent in Welsh.

While this thread got labeled 'the thread for ignorant Americans', you'll of course find that lots of British people don't get this and sometimes in fact actively refuse to.

I suppose Plaid Cymru could also completely change how they campaign and what issues they focus on as an alternative, especially together with an extraordinarily unpopular Labour Party government. Even then though, I think it would take at least a generation before the Plaid transformation started to show dividends.

[bagelman]

After the defeat of the Scottish independence referendum, will Scottish nationalism go the way of Quebecois nationalism?

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Apparently Italy doesn't have a minimum wage? Is this common in southern Europe?

[Aurelius]

Apparently Italy doesn't have a minimum wage? Is this common in southern Europe?

Common all across Europe, but IIRC it's not universal. In many northern European countries sectoral bargaining creates de facto minimum wages. No idea if that's also the case in Italy. Its enormous economic divide between north and south also probably makes it harder to set a minimum wage that works everywhere.

[TheReckoning]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Russia is undoubtedly imperialist, but it is not “hyper capitalist” (which is a dumb term to use to begin with, but certainly not true of Russia), and it does have government run healthcare. As does the United States, incidentally.

[TML]

After the defeat of the Scottish independence referendum, will Scottish nationalism go the way of Quebecois nationalism?

Are you talking about the 2014 referendum or another (potential) referendum in the next several years?

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Russia is undoubtedly imperialist, but it is not “hyper capitalist” (which is a dumb term to use to begin with, but certainly not true of Russia), and it does have government run healthcare. As does the United States, incidentally.

55% of Russian wealth is controlled by the top 1%. 85% is controlled by the top 10%.

[TheReckoning]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Russia is undoubtedly imperialist, but it is not “hyper capitalist” (which is a dumb term to use to begin with, but certainly not true of Russia), and it does have government run healthcare. As does the United States, incidentally.

55% of Russian wealth is controlled by the top 1%. 85% is controlled by the top 10%.

I’m not sure where you got your data from, but Russia’s GINI is less than the United States’ and is only marginally higher than the UK’s.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Russia is undoubtedly imperialist, but it is not “hyper capitalist” (which is a dumb term to use to begin with, but certainly not true of Russia), and it does have government run healthcare. As does the United States, incidentally.

55% of Russian wealth is controlled by the top 1%. 85% is controlled by the top 10%.

I’m not sure where you got your data from, but Russia’s GINI is less than the United States’ and is only marginally higher than the UK’s.

The general distribution of Russia's wealth doesn't fit with traditional models.

1)- Lots of oligarch wealth is stashed away/secret
2)- The super rich (top 1000 or so) control much more, so much of the top 5-10% actually has  a lot less.

[Lord Halifax]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Russia is undoubtedly imperialist, but it is not “hyper capitalist” (which is a dumb term to use to begin with, but certainly not true of Russia), and it does have government run healthcare. As does the United States, incidentally.

This thread isn't going to work if people start attacking the question without answering it. It needs to be strictly Q & A.

[CumbrianLefty]

I'll start: what it would it take for the political position of Plaid Cymru to seriously improve, as occurred for the SNP?

1.5 million people wake up one day to discover that they have suddenly become fluent in Welsh.

This is an interesting one, there were those in the early days of organised Scottish Nationalism in the inter-war years who wanted the Gaelic language to be a central part of the new movement's identity despite it only actually being spoken by a small minority of people. That they lost that battle was very likely helpful to the SNP long term.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

The U.S. is the leader of "the West" and "the West" is seen as the main hub for capitalist exploitation, including but not exclusively of the delevoping world. In large parts, it is also simple "tradition". They've always hated America, so it became a part of their way of life, so to speak, just like you root for or hate certain sports teams.

[CumbrianLefty]

Why do NUPES/Die Linke parties that hate the US for being a hypercapitalist imperalist power without government-run healthcare like Russia, a hypercapitalist imperialist power without government-run healthcare?

Knee-jerk "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"-ism. Seeing America as their enemy in the first place is a Cold War-brained cognitive bias that the dinosaurs in charge of most of these types of parties just haven't bothered trying to overcome.

I would say also that at least some seem to be under the impression that modern Russia is still the Soviet Union under Lenin.

Putin does seem to want to restore the Soviet empire, I suppose.