Introduction
The decisive expansion of democracy or the “Third Wave” has augmented western ideals around the world. Today, many countries initiated and succeed in their political reforms or so-called democratization. Here, democracy reflects an institution or the parcel of collective identity that stresses the idea of liberalism and capitalism. China, being one of the countries yet truly to begin the process of democratization, stands on a point that future progress will be important not only for the people in China but also for the people outside of China. Moreover, the upcoming steps of Chinese political and social reforms will be important to the theories of development and democracy. China, under Lenin’s ideal of communism, modernized its economy bringing the essential element of liberal democracy, capitalism however its politics remains as a fervent communist party. This paper will examine both pessimistic and optimistic views on the Chinese prospect of democratization yet it will ultimately suggest or justify that shortly China will not become democratic that holds Western ideals of liberalism and capitalism.
Communist China
However, it is true that “Democracy is a relatively recent historical phenomenon. Even in the United States and Europe it was only consolidated through universal suffrage in the last century”. (Ottaway & Carothers, 26) As a result, it would be a pessimistic approach to judge China on its current form of governance under a communistic party system. As it is, China is going through a huge wave of globalization and its effects are showing on its cultures. It can be well established that the traditional Chinese festival is declining. This is replaced by western festivals like Valentine’s Day and Christmas. The largely outstanding form of this is Westernization, but Sinicization of cultures has occurred over most parts of Asia for several centuries. Augmented intercontinental travel and tourism, greater than before immigration even though it may also pave the way for illegitimate immigrations, dispersal of local consumer merchandise such as food products to other countries over and over again making them acquainted to their culture, wide-reaching fashion and pop culture. Additionally, unlike other former communist states like Russia, “the consensus these days (in China) is that world order does not collapse over a weekend and that betting on America’s decline is a risky gamble” (Krastev, 50). Thus, it can be assumed that the future generation of china would fundamentally westernize and democracy would rule as a production of this westernization.
Distant dream
But on the current data, this appears to be a distant dream. “With its economy growing at double digits since the early 1990s, China has achieved its age-old aspiration of international greatness”. (Pei, p. 45). This has given the country an additional stronghold as a nationalistic approach. The story of China is literally about a rag to riches story, to its future in its relation to past, the huge population to potentially increasing world market share, Chinese immigrants, its effect on the world, depletion of its natural resources, the social aspect, political and economic policies and its relation of trust with the outside world. Thus, “They present a serious challenge to the liberal orthodoxy founded on the belief that democracy and free markets go together in the development of successful societies”. (Pei, p. 45).
Simultaneously, there is evidence of distrust, environmental malaise, rampant piracy, official corruption, and problems arising out of rapid industrialization. The situation attributes it to the intricacies arising out of differences between communism and capitalism. This mismatch of political and economic policies is creating problems for not only China but also other states engaged with it. It can be stated that that protectionist measures like subsidies over water, electricity, oil, and other state subsidies along with restricted capital flows have aggravated the further complicated situation. But the most serious blow against the pro-democratic movement of the 1980s (comprised of students and urban intelligentsia) came with the Tiananmen crackdown. The rest of the pro-democratic movement was handled by the Chinese authority with satanic efficiency. “The Party recruited large numbers of college students, professors, and social scientists and appointed many to government positions…At the same time, pay, benefits, perks, and professional privileges for the intelligentsia were significantly increased.” (Pei, p. 48). The price is simple and obvious. They are not allowed to act against the party. This ends the chance of democracy in China in near future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be mentioned that the only thing growing faster than China is the publicity of China. China is one of the world’s ancient unremitting civilizations has always left-back the rest of the world with its intelligence and self-reliance. The record of China’s progress over the past two decades has demonstrated naysayers wrong and optimists not positive enough. Instead of all its backdrafts, China managed to pave its development path. The study shows these elements but at the same time, it manages to portray the darker side of this development and the difficulties of the local population within this changed scenario. But by Ottaway & Carothers, “Adepressingly large swath of East and Southeast Asia—from North Korea and China down through Vietnam, Laos, and Burma to Malaysia and Singapore—is a democracy-free zone that shows few signs of change. (Ottaway & Carothers, p. 22). Thus, it can well be stated that even though there are waves of changes, it is not towards the development of democracy and this holds at least shortly.
Works Cited
- Krastev, Ivan. “What Russia Wants”. Foreign Policy 5-6 (2008): 48-51.
- Ottaway, Marina & Carothers, Thomas. “MIDDLE EAST DEMOCRACY”. Foreign Policy 11.12 (2004): 22-28.
- Pei, Minxin. “How China Is Ruled”. The American Interest 3.4 (2008): 45-51.