in many multiparty democracies executive power does emanate from legislative power, do they function much better? “the perils of presidentialism” argument is now somewhat disputed by more recent experience in the Latin America from which it arose. 1/

the most common indictment of too-many-parties democracy is Israel, where splinter parties often become kingmakers, but many multiparty democracies are designed (sometimes elegantly, sometimes less) to favor 4-8ish parties, and disfavor very small parties. 2/

(my own tentative views are that parliamentary systems are probably cleaner than presidential systems, but presidential systems can work if the electoral system favors less partisan, less ideological presidents, and that voting systems should be built to favor 4-8 not-tiny parties.) /fin