Western Liberal Democracy Would Be Wrong for China
In an Intelligence Squared debate, two sides faced off over the following statement:
Western liberal democracy would be wrong for China.
From the introduction:
People everywhere are better off living in liberal democracy: that has been the reigning assumption of the western world. But could it be w ...
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Short sighted people can see only the last 30 years of Chinese history and make the mistake of crediting the dictatorship for supposedly lifting 400 million from poverty. If one looks just a few more decades will realized that this dictatorship plunged 600 millions into poverty, and the 400 million lifted themselves back to where they were 60 years ago after the dictatorship loosen some of the ropes tying their ability to make a living.
The introduction is quite absurd. A Chinese peasant is actually quite concerned about the (lack of) laws surrounding property rights. Which, of course, according to Francis Fukuyama, fits directly into the historical narrative of the rule of law in China.