> he would also say it's the first past the post system that has caused so much alienation from the political process
I think I'd agree with this analysis. I live in Ireland, where we have PRSTV (for somewhat hilarious historical reasons while we were under British rule—a Unionist minority wanting better representation in local politics[0]), and while our representative democracy is still riddled with problems and voter alienation, I still think those are multifaceted and have various other complex causes; PRSTV itself is pretty decent as far as representative systems go.
I moved to Ireland five years ago and I can say I’ve never seen a saner political environment in my life. It’s hard to polarise when extremes are punished harshly and that, while makes it hard to differentiate between parties, it brings a lot of stability.
Trump, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Orban, and so many others wouldn’t be possible here.
I think I'd agree with this analysis. I live in Ireland, where we have PRSTV (for somewhat hilarious historical reasons while we were under British rule—a Unionist minority wanting better representation in local politics[0]), and while our representative democracy is still riddled with problems and voter alienation, I still think those are multifaceted and have various other complex causes; PRSTV itself is pretty decent as far as representative systems go.
[0] https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-his...