While I agree that
political parties are, generally, a world-wide
phenomenon,
today, much of what we now associate with these groupings comes from American history.
It is all the more a shame, and very sad that in most, even, and especially democratic countries, the real difference between political parties has disappeared.
Whether Bob Rae and the Ontario NDP, Tony Blair and British Labour, and, of course, Bill Clinton and the new Democrats (always such a strange term for Canadians), this is a phenomenon that has eroded the democratic process--all because some people want power, and will do anything to get it.