Pact democracy
When pact Democracy ( Spanish democracia pactada ) the designated political science a form of democracy , (almost) all or at least most of the relevant political actors arrange a truce in. The Pacted Democracy can be found in South America, for example . Similar systems, where in practice only one or two large parties are decisive, have also developed in the industrialized countries through so-called corporations or social partnerships paired with certain traditions of milieu-bound core constituencies . In Japan, for example, the Liberal Democratic Party has ruled from 1955 until today, with a single brief hiatus. For more than 100 years, the presidents in the United States have been made up of only two different parties.
Critics see in this system a deficient pluralism with a simultaneous deliberate exclusion of weaker, but nevertheless important parties and political interest groups. In addition, the lack of competition and thus also a political alternative to the established parties can be observed in the long run , as the political programs align themselves over time.
Venezuela
In 1958 in Venezuela the most important parties (including Acción Democrática and COPEI ), the dominant trade union Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela , the largest business association , the military and the churches signed the Punto Fijo Agreement , the Avenimiento Obrero-Patronal and the Programa Mínimo de Gobierno . The aim was to achieve mutual recognition of the right to exist, to avoid a dominance of one party like during the trienio as well as the military dictatorship afterwards and thus to enable a stable democracy. In addition, a constant economic policy should be achieved, the participation of all population classes, as well as the exclusion of the communist Partido Comunista de Venezuela from the government. The system seemed successful for decades, but inefficiency, corruption and nepotism undermined the country to such an extent that puntofijismo is now a political swear word.