This is from the CSMonitor site about Putin's Russia, but the same 'managed democracy' has been studied and instituted by a long list of American politicians in part with the Bohemian Grove club-- republican and democrat, Reagan and Kissinger, going in to the G8.
The similarities to today's political environment are remarkable.
Russia-watchers will be scrutinizing these polls closely because they represent the pinnacle of "managed democracy," the somewhat paradoxical electoral system constructed over the past decade by Vladimir Putin(and our political 'elite'), which creates the detailed impression of functioning multi-party political competition while ensuring that outcomes fall within a range dictated by the Kremlin.(which is why both parties have been leading us down the same path, albeit the republicans only minorly slower than the democrats)
But opposition leaders, even those whose parties are represented on the ballot, offer a completely different picture. They describe
a carefully stage-managed system in which
candidate lists are winnowed by Kremlin apparatchiks (or,republican and democrat party 'elites') in which opposition politicians must scramble for tiny crumbs of media coverage(we surely see this), and local officials use a variety of heavy-handed tactics to contain their campaigns within tightly enclosed limits. Some warn that authorities may resort to large-scale vote-rigging on election day(and we see this), as has been credibly reported in the past, if voters turn against the ruling party in decisive numbers.
Now, with a grain of salt, see what the Carnegie Endowment has to say: Managed democracy controls society while providing the appearance of democracy. Its main characteristics are as follows:
1. A strong presidency and weak institutions (the destruction of the department of defense and military by Obama for example
2. State control of the media( the absolute abdication of the media in vetting candidates and the multitude of Obama crimes against the Republic, including the creation of a multitude of Czars and the Executive Orders that force conforming with international socialist organization goals such as the UN.
3. Control over elections allows elites to legitimize their decisions 4. Visible short-term effectiveness and long-term inefficiency
The result is an “unstable stability” based on the president’s personality. He is actually a hostage of the system (grain of salt.
The corporatist angle is correct, I think what has happened here is that we have a 'business-managed democracy'. With all the techniques learned from the Soviets. When you really boil it down, a corporation is just a collective after all.