POLS 071 Chapter Notes - Chapter How Democracies Die Ch. 1-3: Alternative Media

• School: University of Vermont
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 071
• Professor: Peter A.Von Doepp

Document Summary

Responsibility for filtering out authoritarians lies with the political parties and party leaders: gatekeeping: barring of outsiders, particularly anti-democratic candidates, from winning or participating in elections. Parties are stewards of democracy because they select presidential candidates: must strike balance between two roles: Democratic one: choose candidates that best represent the party"s vote. Filtration one: screen out those who pose a threat to democracy, the party or are unfit to hold office. Minority groups were not well represented in this system since party insiders chose candidates (1) it was an effective gatekeeping method: the primary system was rethought in the 1970s to incorporate pledged delegates into the nomination system. Party"s still have influence during the invisible primary: establishment candidates are favored for media attention, endorsements and donors. Party gatekeepers are now diminished because: (1) increase in availability of outside money corporate, pac, individual (2) explosion of alternative media, social media and the fixation on sensationalist, polarized stories that generate more views.