There's a growing consensus that Western democracy is failing for one particular reason - the opening of the election of party leaders to the party membership, as opposed to the MPs or representatives within the legislature selecting the representative who has the majority support within the parliamentary party (or equivalent).
The thinking goes that opening the vote to the party membership makes such an election slanted toward the more hard line elements, as party members, in general, are party activists who hold very strong, ideological views which are not necessarily aligned with the views of those who are not party members, but nevertheless vote for that party.
This leads to totally unsuitable leaders being appointed, as has happened in the UK with Corbyn, Johnson and Truss and the USA with Trump. However, they are not alone.
Democratic accountability is also being eroded by the rise of on-line parties, which are able to circumvent such constraints as election spending limits.
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