Over the past 20 years, the world has made a definite move to capitalism. (I do not consider recent proposals to reign in the worst excesses of the market as a repudiation of capitalism – not at all). However, has the world made a decisive shift to democracy? We had thought that it had, but that was more our own hubris at the end of the Cold War when we thought history had “ended”. In reality, we mistook the adoption of capitalism with the adoption of democracy. Many authoritarian regimes have adopted capitalism (China, Gulf) but never embraced democracy More recently, other countries who had begun democratizing slid backwards (Russia, Venezuela). The staggering success of some of these countries in delivering prosperity to their people suggests that democracy may not be inevitable. How can you deny China’s stunning growth? Or Dubai’s gleeming skyscrapers? It may be that to continue this growth, democratic freedoms will be necessary (and i believe that it will), but for citizens of these countries, the authoritarian model doesnt seem so bad right now (so long as it delivers).
Is the Chinese model so bad?
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