By ANN BERNSTEIN –
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western democratic capitalism seemed to have triumphed. But the 2008 economic crisis, and the relative decline of Western influence that followed, significantly undermined the appeal of Western democracy in the developing world. While Western powers struggle to overcome political gridlock and slow growth, the Chinese authoritarian political establishment, using a mix of market mechanisms and state capitalism, continues to deliver high levels of growth, lifting millions out of poverty.
As a result, it is now far more respectable to advocate authoritarianism in the developing world than it was a decade ago. For example, President Jacob Zuma has argued: “The economic crisis facing countries in the West has put a question mark on the paradigm and approaches that a few years ago were celebrated as dogma to be worshipped.”
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