Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c161IR // #c161Synthesis

The United States organized what have been called “demonstration elections” in its client states, defined as those whose primary function is to convince the home population that the intervention is well intentioned, that the populace of the invaded and occupied country welcomes the intrusion, and that they are being given a democratic choice.

— In our words · Source: Manufacturing Consent (Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman)

[Use when]

When a foreign election is sold as proof of democracy.

[Why it matters]

Elections as stagecraft for the home audience: El Salvador's vote legitimized, Nicaragua's delegitimized, by the same press.

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