Why China’s Riches Won’t Bring It Freedom
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May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Modern history is the story of howliberal democracy, originating in the U.K. and America, spreadaround the world. This may sound like an absurd fantasy. Inactuality, this Whiggish narrative of progress underpins mostnewspaper editorials, political commentary and speeches in theWest, and frames larger views of political developments in thenon-West.
It accounts for the gloomy undertone to Freedom House’slatest report, which records the shrinking of liberal democracyworldwide. Even countries with regular elections, such as India,are far from upholding the notion of liberalism, which advocatesthe maximizing of individual rights for the fullest realizationof human potential.